A Gentle Nudge From a Child
by ProDLnEC aka NLcsimiamifanatic
Summary: Most of this story could be rated K, but rated M for some sexual scenes and language! Eric & Calleigh FINALLY admit how they feel for each other when they meet a little person named Chloe. COMPLETE! MISTAKES IN FINAL CHAPTER FIXED! READ & REVIEW!
1. Congratulations! You

_**Congratulations! You're A Daddy!**_

Eric Delko had found himself excited the moment he had found out he could the father of a little girl he named Chloe. He waited with crossed fingers for the results of the DNA test that was performed immediately following the child's birth. The hospital staff had put a rush the test when the social worker informed of the mother's intention to sign over custody of the baby girl to the "alleged" father. Her relationship with CSI Delko had lasted just six weeks and was purely sexual—Eric admitted that. If Eric Delko proved not to be the father of the girl the mother didn't know who was and wanted the child placed for adoption immediately. The new mother hadn't wanted to hold or even see the newborn's face, Melissa Jakobs had stated that either the father or social services could give the baby a name.

Melissa Jakobs checked herself out of the hospital four hours after she gave birth and disappeared. She had notified Eric Delko that he may be a father and given birth; her work was done.

Eric hadn't wanted to see the baby till the DNA results came back; he hadn't wanted to run the risk of falling in love with her if she turned out not to be his. But he had taken the gamble in the month he knew of Melissa's pregnancy to set up a nursery and prepare for the baby he wanted to raise if she were his.

At 7:00pm the phone ran at Eric's apartment; a nurse was on the line with the test results.

"Congratulations. You can take your daughter home in the morning after you sign the paperwork. If you like, you can come and meet her now, we can make an exception."

Eric said he would be there in a hour.

Eric's eyes filled with tears the first time he laid eyes on his daughter in the clear hospital bassinet that the nurse pointed to. She was sound asleep. She had a fairer in complexion than himself but he had expected that because Melissa was Caucasian with blonde hair and blue eyes. But other than that the newborn girl was a copy of himself, she had his lips and cheekbones.

"She has brown eyes," the nurse told him.

She had her father's eyes too.

Eric nodded, he read the pink sign on his daughter's bassinet.

_I'm a Girl!_

_Baby Girl Jakobs_

_5 lbs 7onces_

_That's not right_, he thought.

"Do you have a name for her?" The nurse asked gently. "We can't send her home with what's on her birth certificate right now."

Eric nodded. A name came to him immediately.

"Her name is Chloe. Chloe Gabriella Delko."


	2. Daddy's Baby

_**Daddy's Baby**_

The first time he held his daughter in his arms Eric cried, hard. Chloe was barely 12-hours old. Eric couldn't imagine nine months ago that he would be holding a tiny baby in his arms. Eric had held newborn babies before, his sister's children but the emotion he was feeling now was a million times more overwhelming.

_"Hi sweetheart," he whispered to the baby, kissing her head. _

_She's so beautiful, he thought. _

_The little baby stretched and yawned, her brown eyes opening. Eric smiled, kissing the tip of Chloe's nose and lips. "I love you, baby girl," he murmured to her. _

_Eric couldn't wait to take Chloe home. The new father spent the next day and a half at the hospital with his daughter, learning to take care of her. The nurses were only too happy to show him._

From the moment he had Chloe home Eric reveled in the joy of being a father to his daughter. He didn't want his mother or anyone else taking care of Chloe when he was around. He quickly became at ease at bathing her, feeding her, changing her diapers and getting her to sleep. When his daughter was four-days-old, having met her grandparents, aunts and cousins, daddy Eric decided it was time for Chloe to meet her CSI family.

_"Come here, my angel," Eric said, picking and kissing his newborn before putting placing her in her carrier. "You know daddy loves you. Now you're going to meet more people who love you. Your uncle Horatio can't wait to meet you."_

Horatio had been a great friend to Eric since they met. He had been there anytime Eric needed someone to talk to in the last month since Melissa had come to the lab, even if it was at 4 a.m. when Eric couldn't sleep thinking of the fact he _might_ soon become a father. His boss and friend was always there to listen. Eric planned to ask Horatio to be Chloe's godfather. Horatio had never got the chance to be a father, Eric didn't mind "sharing" Chloe with him.

_Alexx was walking down the corridor when she saw Eric walk in with the baby in his arms. She ran over to him._

_"Oh, let me see! Oh, Eric! She's so beautiful!" Alexx exclaimed._

_Eric grinned. "I know."_

_His old friend, Tim Speedle "Speed" wasn't comfortable holding the newborn but both Calleigh and Horatio were. _

_No one knew that driving home that evening Calleigh cried tears of joy realizing she found the love of her life and that his baby, even if she didn't birth to her was hers._

Three months after Chloe was born Eric was notified by registered mail that Melissa had formally relinquished all parental rights. He was now his daughter's sole legal parent.


	3. Big Girl Now

_**Big Girl Now**_

As Chloe grew into a toddler, Eric learned how to put bows and barrettes in her black hair and keep her hair neat. It was a surprise to him that potty-training her was so easy. Chloe was _his_ daughter nobody else's. Just because he were a single man with a daughter didn't mean he had to depend on others.

Chloe was two now and had Eric's dark hair and brown eyes. Everyone said she was nearly identical to him, looking at her no DNA test would be required. For the first six months of Chloe's life Eric had been very fortunate. Being able to pull family leave, vacation time and others from the lab taking his shifts for him he was able to be at home and be Chloe's primary care giver ninety percent of that time. Then for a year after his mother babysat her. After that Eric enrolled her in a daycare a short distance from the lab. On a good day, if he was lucky he would be able to drop by the center and take her out to the park for lunch.

Chloe had been a blessing in her father's life in more ways than one. Her birth had _finally_ forced him and Calleigh Duquesne to stop "beating around the bush" as they had been for years and admit how they felt for each other. In spite of wanting to be able to keep distance from the baby, Calleigh had fallen head over heels in love with Chloe the moment she saw her big brown eyes, the same eyes as her handsome father. Although she or Eric never referred to her as "mom" to his daughter, Calleigh had very quickly become the child's surrogate mother.

Although they had finally admitted their feelings for each other and Calleigh spent much time at Eric and Chloe's home and often spent the night they had decided to take things slow and Calleigh hadn't moved in with them yet. They wanted to make sure things were right. One thing was going to be for sure, no matter what happened with the relationship between him and Calleigh, Calleigh was always going to be in his daughter's life.

At the age of 2, Chloe spoke both English and Spanish fluently. She had been spoken to in both languages since she was born. Father and daughter could converse just as easily in Spanish as English and often did. It surprised people, especially if they were older who only spoke one language to see just how the toddler could switch between the two languages—especially when she seemed to realize the person she was talking to didn't speak as much Spanish as she did—like her "Uncle" Horatio. Horatio spoke "enough" Spanish to understand someone and ask basic questions but wasn't fluent like Eric and Chloe.

Hanging out at the lab. The team loved seeing Chloe. Whenever Eric had to work late after the daycare closed, Chloe would come and stay at the lab. Horatio had her spoiled. He bought a portable DVD player and a bunch of children's DVDs he knew Chloe would like. While her father worked late, Chloe would sit on the couch in Horatio's office, watch cartoons, color in her coloring books, draw pictures and look through her story books. Horatio didn't think Eric knew that he gave Chloe snacks from the candy machine after she ate her dinner. Eric chuckled at this little junk food secret between the two.


	4. Mommy

_**Mommy**_

So far two-year-old Chloe Delko hadn't asked why she had a daddy but no mommy. Calleigh filling those shoes as a surrogate mother even though she still didn't call her father's girlfriend "mommy" seemed to delay the child's curiosity on why she didn't have anyone to call "mommy." Eric hadn't looking forward to explaining to his young daughter why her mother had abandoned her. He had spoken to a therapist months ago about what to say so Chloe wouldn't think it was her fault—as young children tend to do. Whenever Chloe did ask about the woman who gave birth to her and why she wasn't around all he could tell her was the problem was with her biological mother, not her. She hadn't done anything wrong, that _many_ people loved her unconditionally, including Calleigh.

_Eric had bought his daughter home from the hospital when she was two days old. He bought her to meet his CSI family at work two days later. From the moment Calleigh had first held Chloe Delko, she was baffled that a mother could just walk away from her child. Such a __beautiful__ child at that. Her own mother had been far from nurturing but Calleigh couldn't believe anyone could be so cold towards a baby that she had given birth to. Looking into Chloe's eyes—the same ones as Eric—Calleigh could not deny she was in love with Eric Delko._

_She didn't realize that feet away, watching her hold his daughter Eric realized what he felt for Calleigh was not lust or puppy love, honest true love._

Calleigh moved into Eric's apartment three months after Chloe's second birthday. There was no doubt now that Chloe thought of Calleigh as her mom and Calleigh thought of Chloe as her child. She could not have loved her anymore if she had given birth to her. It was a stormy night full of thunder and lightening just days after Calleigh moved in that Chloe had started calling Calleigh "mama" and do so from then on. Eric had to work a late shift at the lab and it was just the two home. It was 9:05 and Chloe was awaken by the thunder. Calleigh heard little feet suddenly running down the hall and then she saw Chloe round the corner of the living room and jump into Calleigh's arms on the couch.

"Tengo miedo, mami. No me gusta el ruido! es demasiado fuerte! haz que pare!!"

Calleigh had grown up in Louisiana but obtained a degree in Spanish from Miami University and having spent years in Miami she had become as fluent in Spanish as her boyfriend and Chloe.

"No pasa nada, mi bebé. No va a lastimarle, mami no lo dejará,"

Calleigh's eyes started to tear up after Chloe fell back to sleep in her arms.

_She called me Mami,_ she thought.

When she was sure that the little girl was asleep, Calleigh put Chloe back in her crib. When Eric arrived an hour later, he saw the tears in Calleigh's eyes and was alarmed.

"Chloe. She woke up scared from the thunder. She called me mommy."

Eric first thought this had bothered Calleigh. He put his arms around her and kissed her head.

"Gee, Cal, I'm sorry. I'll talk to her in the morning. I promise."

"No, Eric. It felt _wonderful_. I love her, Eric. I love you. I _want_ to be Chloe's mommy."

Eric smiled and kissed her again. I love you, too, Cal."

_**Translations**_

Tengo miedo, mami. No me gusta el ruido! es demasiado fuerte! haz que pare!

-**I'm scared, mami. I don't like the noise! It's too loud! Make it Stop!**

No pasa nada, mi bebé. No va a lastimarle, mami no lo dejará,

- **It's all right, my baby. It won't hurt you. Mommy won't let it.**


	5. Family Life

_**Family Life**_

Alexx Woods smiled as her co-worker Calleigh Duquesne recounted to her how Eric's daughter had called her "mama" the night before. Calleigh was beaming.

"That's wonderful, sugar. But you know you've been her mom all her life. You can't deny that everyone saw that moment you held her," Alexx said. "We all thought Chloe should be your baby as soon as Eric said he was going to be a father. We all knew the wrong woman was carrying her."

Chloe Delko had always known who her mother was. It was a woman with green eyes and silky blonde hair that she liked to touch at night when she was going to sleep. Her name was Calleigh.

As much as Calleigh and Eric were completely committed as a couple and were a family with Chloe, they were in no hurry to rush to the alter. They hoped to get married in the future and for Calleigh to be able to _legally_ make Chloe her daughter as well. Neither took the idea of marriage lightly and they wanted to make sure it right when they did marry.

At home, Eric and Calleigh weren't cops, just two parents living with a toddler was starting to assert her independence. The night that Chloe first called Calleigh "Mama" it hadn't occurred to them to think about how Chloe had got out of her crib. When she did the same a few weeks later at 10:30 at night when the two were in the living room watching tv Eric asked Chloe how she got out.

"I climb. I do it b'fore," Chloe said simply, like it was not big deal to her.

"Chloe," Eric said firmly. "Look at me. Mommy and daddy don't want you doing that. You could fall and get hurt. If you want to get out of your bed, you call out to mommy or me, okay?"

"Otay," Chloe said, staring at Eric. "Me Sorry, daddy."

"Okay. Now, how come you got out of bed? You're supposed to be asleep."

"I wake up," his daughter answered just as simply.

Eric's mother laughed when her son told her how Chloe was starting to show a very stubborn streak; besides getting out of her bed, when she wasn't in the mood, she would _not_ eat her carrots, no matter how long she was made to sit there or that she could have dessert and although bath time was not a problem (she loved that), although Chloe did not throw tantrums, bedtime was a problem half of the time. Chloe had also mastered the use of the word "no."

"It's not funny, ma," Eric complained.

"Yes, it is! She's just like you. Your dad and I went through the _exact_ things with you," Chlorinda said. "I'm so glad I'm around to see this!"

"Geez. Now I feel like I should apologize to you and pop," Eric groaned.

Chlorinda had started to see some of granddaughter's stubbornness, not with grandma or grandpa but with Calleigh and Eric. She had told them losing their patience and yelling at the girl or spanking her, (which they "better _not_") wouldn't work. Him and Calleigh would have to keep their cool and show Chloe they could "go one longer" than she could.

"She's 2, Eric. She's starting to realize she has some control over things in her life and you have to let her have that in some small ways. Don't be a drill Sargent but you have to let her know you two are in charge, not her.

"But you know, you two had it easy with the main things parents usually have a ton of grief with, Chloe gave up the bottle without a problem and she didn't fight you on potty-training."

The two took Chloe climbing out of her crib as a sign that she was ready for a new 'big girl' bed. Her crib was a 3-in-1 that folded from a crib to a toddler bed then a day bed. Chloe seemed excited to see her 'new' bed. Now her parents just had to see if the little girl would sleep there without a fuss.

Success. Chloe went to bed and stayed there. She had liked the fact that her bed was close to the floor, she was allowed to get out of this bed all by herself. The downside for mommy and daddy in that was now they could count on Chloe jumping into their bed and putting herself between them at 5:45am every morning. Maybe it was a bit of a sleep disruption for them but Chloe would go right back to sleep once she was nestled between them. Neither could say it wasn't nice to have a have a cuddle from the two-year-old shortly before getting up to go to work. When it came down to it, mommy and daddy both enjoyed this time because of long hours they spent away from their daughter.


	6. Tough Nine Days

_**A Tough Nine Days**_

It was a crime-filled week in Miami and even Chloe Delko was feeling the effect. A trio were pulling off two bank robberies a day. So far no one had been killed but three people had seriously injured. Trying to solve this crime spree kept Calleigh and Eric at work very late. Because they missed Chloe and knew she had to miss them when they arrived at about 11 every night, long after Chloe was asleep, they would move her into their bed so she could spend some time with them, even if she were asleep. Right now, they barely saw her. Eric's mother picked her up from daycare, gave her dinner and bath and put her to bed. It didn't surprise either of them that the normally happy toddler was now often whiny and clingy and uncooperative getting ready in the morning. The two even had to work on Saturday and Sunday, the two days of the week that marked with smiley faces on the calendar to show Chloe that her parents would be home, the child found it even worse than not seeing on the weekdays.

The teachers at Chloe's daycare knew why the child's behavior was different. She wasn't the same smiling, animated little girl. She was withdrawn, seldom smiled and she cried when Calleigh dropped her off at the center, something she never did before. Eric left a note in his daughter's backpack explaining Chloe's sudden change in demeanor. Even without the note the employees knew of the crime spree. It was all over the news. Chloe's parents being CSIs the staff knew they had to be working a lot of hours. Her parents dropped her off in the morning but so far her grandmother had taken her home everyday.

"Poor little thing must miss daddy and mommy a lot," one teacher said to the other.

The lab were able to solve the case after almost 10 days, arresting three college students. Taking into account the very long hours that the team had worked for nine days when they closed the case on that Thursday Horatio sent everyone home early and told them all to take Friday and Monday off and come in on Tuesday. Everyone had done more than their share of over-time.

"We're going out for a drink," Frank told Eric. "I don't suppose you two are coming."

Eric smiled. "Naw. We going to get Chloe early. I'm sure it will make her day."

"You two had to miss the little Munchkin. You didn't see her much the last few days."

"You have no idea, Frank."

Chloe squealed with excitement when an employee came to her and told her that her parents were coming to take her home early. She eagerly packed up her small _Winnie the Pooh_ backpack. She was waiting for them when the couple arrived, she ran towards Eric, wrapping herself around his legs, looking up at him with a big grin.

Eric scooped her up.

"Hello, princesa," he said, kissing her cheek.

Chloe climbed from her father's arms and to Calleigh's.

"We go home, mama, pease?" Chloe asked.

"Yes, baby. We're going home. We missed you!"

Eric told the worker that Chloe would not be in the next day which was Friday or on Monday. They had time off. The two really had missed Chloe and knew she had missed them, especially on Saturday and Sunday, days the three got to spend together without being bothered by their work.

They let Chloe sleep in their bed the whole weekend. It was a special few days for them and they let also let their stay up a little later. They all slept in together the next morning. Eric even let Chloe have brownies shortly before bed, something he normally said an absolute "no" to no matter Chloe did.

_Remember Chloe is only two years old, some words, like "please" don't come out right!_


	7. Beautiful

_**Beautiful**_

Calleigh was already asleep. Eric went to check on Chloe one last time before he went to bed himself. Staring down at the sleeping toddler the memory came back to himself of the day he was told he may be a father.

_A very pregnant Melissa Jakobs walked into the crime lab. She informed him she was due to give birth exactly a month. A date had already been set for an induction and c-section. Eric __might__ be the father of the baby, the hospital would call as soon as the baby came so he come in and provide a sample for a DNA test. She didn't plan to keep the baby. If Eric was the father, he could take full custody or place "it" for adoption. Melissa then turned on her heel and walked out, leaving Eric with a stunned expression. He was sitting on the bench of the locker room with his face in his hands. Horatio had come in and sat next to him._

_"I heard the news,"Horatio said. "You know, if you decide you want to raise this baby, if it's ours, you know you will have a lot of people helping you out."_

_Horatio was about to stand up when Eric said "can you imagine __me__ raising a kid, H?"_

_"I can, Eric," Horatio said, rising and heading towards the door. "If you need to talk you know where I am."_

_This was one of the many reasons why Horatio got to be "Uncle Horatio" to Chloe. _

_It took Eric all of three days to decide if he was Melissa's child's father that he indeed wanted to raise the child. Of course his parents, extended family and friends would be involved with the child but Eric was determined that __he__ would be raising this child, his parents and sisters wouldn't be 'over involved' and take care of and raise the baby for him just because he was a single man. When he had told his family of his possible fatherhood and his intentions he had also told them this._

_In the next two weeks, his mother and sisters had helped him set up a nursery and purchase baby clothes and essentials. Melissa said she didn't know the gender of the unborn child so Eric had decided a gender neutral theme like ever-popular Winnie the Pooh was best for the room. Eric knew he was taking a huge emotional risk by doing this without knowing the DNA test results but he also knew that he had to be prepared if he was going to take custody of the baby, he didn't want the newborn in some foster home for even a day. If the newborn __was__ his child he wanted to take him or her straight from the hospital._

_The first call Eric got from the hospital was from a social worker telling him that Melissa had given birth to a healthy baby girl. He was at work at the time. He told the woman that he would be at the hospital as soon as he got off work in four hours. The social worker reminded him to bring along valid documents to prove his identity before the lab would do the test. It was a very long four hours for Eric._

Even though she had come into his life quite unexpectedly and by a woman he wouldn't have chosen, Eric wouldn't change a thing about Chloe. She was beautiful and she was his.


	8. Too Much Fun

_**Too Much Fun equals a big fight**_

Calleigh was glad that Alexx had wanted to take Chloe with her and her family to Sea World. She and Eric were arguing all Saturday. Why? Well, Eric had gone to his sister's fiancé's bachelor party. That in itself Calleigh didn't care about. She wasn't threatened by strippers. _But _she had asked not to get _too_ drunk because on Saturday night Calleigh's aunt Roberta, or "Aunt B" who she hadn't seen in years was coming to visit. It was the first time she would meet Eric. Him sleeping off a hangover was going to make a bad, bad first impression.

Despite the fact he promised wouldn't, it was the first time Eric had drank since Chloe was an infant. In short, he came home drunk off his feet, almost literally, considering the fact his father Pavel had to practically carry him into the house from the car. To say Calleigh was pissed off was an understatement. It hadn't take long for Eric to sober up and he wasn't the kind to get ill, _however_, he had a _busting_ headache on Saturday evening. He was not in the mood to fight with Calleigh over the previous night but the two fought most of the Saturday.

Calleigh's aunt told her not to give Eric such a hard time over "something so stupid." It wasn't like Eric had committed murder.

Calleigh hadn't been prepared for a strong lecture from her southern aunt.

"I've spoken to the guy on the phone. I _know_ he doesn't do this regularly. I did come on short notice when there was an event planned. Get over it, girl. I'll be here a few weeks. I'll see him not hung over. And _please_, don't bring that cute lil' one home until this snapping stops."

"But I _told _him-" Calleigh started to defend.

"Oh get off it, girl! I don't care what you told him! I know what I'm talking about! The man's young, has a demanding, stressful job, not that _you_ don't have that, but you told me yourself he's a good family man and hasn't been out with the guys in a long time. Cut the guy some slack.

"Now, when you're ready to admit I'm right, go apologize to the guy and bring him some aspirin. I'm sure my bawling made his head worse."

"Yes, ma'am," Calleigh replied.

Apologies would go both ways when Calleigh and Eric talked later, after he took a nap and most of his headache had subsided.


	9. The Threat Ahead

_Warning: I don't like Jake Berkley!_

_**The Threat Ahead**_

Jake Berkley had transferred to the Jacksonville Police Department three years ago. Now he was back in the Miami for a few months. He had been looking forward to some "no strings attached fun" with his old flame Calleigh Duquesne. Calleigh admitted she had a 'fling' with Jake like this before and didn't feel bad about it. She was single then, she knew it was a fling, just sex, she was an adult and knew how to handle herself. Calleigh hadn't been upset when it ended. She certainly didn't want Jake back. She was with the man she had always wanted to be with and as far as she was concerned they had a family.

Jake had heard through others at the MDPD that Calleigh and Eric were now a couple. They were raising a two-year-old daughter of Eric's who had been born from a brief relationship Eric had with another woman. They had got together when the child was just an infant. The little girl's biological mother wasn't in the picture and Calleigh was raising the child as her own. Jake thought it would only easy to lure her away; after all, she "didn't really have a family. The kid wasn't hers and her and Delko weren't married or anything."

When Jake approached her in the underground parking garbage of the lab Calleigh tore into him when Jake stated she wasn't "attached to Delko" and "it's not like the kid's really yours. You're just playing the part."

"Listen, you _jerk!_ What I had with _you_ was a fling, sex, that's _all_. I'm woman enough to admit that. I've moved on now. I want more out of life. I've loved Eric Delko for a long time. It took the birth of a precious little girl for me to admit that. I may not have given birth to her but Chloe _is_ my child."

Jake wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. Calleigh _would_ change her mind, even if she needed a little "persuasion." Maybe he would even take advantage of the little temper he knew Delko had. Jake didn't like children, especially small ones like Chloe. He wouldn't get her involved if he didn't have to but Jake was determined to put an end to Eric and Calleigh's relationship. If _Jake_ couldn't have Calleigh, nobody could.

_I know these two chapters are short. I've busy lately. But never the following ones will be longer!_


	10. Watching

_**Watching**_

He watched. Jake had been stalking them for weeks now. Today he watched from a distance and through the window of a small Chinese restaurant.

_For once that annoying chatterbox was not with them. In all the time he had been watching them from a distance they didn't see that kid didn't seem to have an 'off' button. He wondered __how__ either of them didn't smack her in the mouth. And worse,_ _Delko and Calleigh didn't seem to mind. They let her chatter on, even having conversations with her and smiling as she talked. Today it was just the two of them. Both appearing to have a good laugh at each other when they tried to use chopsticks._

Jake was right. The couple had no idea their every move was being watched. That Jake Berkley knew their daily routine and where Chloe's daycare was. Aunt B had Chloe out on another "excursion" as she called it. Most likely it was shopping. The parents had quickly realized it was no use to tell the older woman not to spoil their daughter so much. She would just wave her hand and say "that's what great-aunts are for." It was the same line of defense Eric's parents and Uncle Horatio used. And so far, Uncle Horatio topped _everyone_ in spoiling Chloe. And Frank Tripp couldn't talk either.

Several weeks ago Horatio had babysat for them while they went out to a movie. Frank had come over to watch the baseball game with him. When Calleigh and Eric got home Chloe was sound asleep in her bed with cookie crumbs on her face. In her juice cup were the last drops of root beer. Calleigh had specifically told Horatio _not_ to give Chloe any more cookies or soft drink because it were too close to her bedtime when they left.

"What's _this__?_" She asked Horatio and Frank, holding up the cup.

Horatio paused for a moment then pointed to Frank.

"_He _gave her the root beer, I didn't!"

Eric had to turn his head he was laughing so hard as his big tough boss and big bad Detective Tripp turned into a six-year-olds.

"Oh right, Mr. She-can't-have-that-without-cookies! Don't think I won't flip on you since you turned me in!"

Regaining his breath Eric said "I may be only a level one CSI level 1 but you two are on my turf so I think can safely say for a Lieutenant and detective, neither of you are very good at covering your tracks. If you had to wipe her face and rinse the cup, like I would have done, you never would have been busted."

"Hey! I only let her have five! I could have let eat half the box like I usually do. And I only let her stay up 45 minutes late. For me, that's good!"

_Ow!_ Eric thought. _Calleigh did __not__ need to know that._

Calleigh raised her eyebrows.

"This is the point where your attorney would tell you to shut up, H," Eric said.


	11. The Definition of Family

_Note: I altered the storyline of Marisol/Horatio. From the her first episode, I found her character to be annoying. I don't shot her or kill her though._

_**The Definition of Family**_

The marriage between Horatio Caine and Marisol Delko had been brief, lasting a just few weeks off of a year. Eric had shown up at the ceremony at city hall even though he thought it was a bad, _a very bad_ idea. The quick courtship of the his boss and sister gave Eric a bad feeling; he somehow felt Horatio was completely sincere but his sister not so. And Horatio wasn't only his boss but his best friend.

The reason Horatio and Marisol got divorced was over children. When they got together it was based on the fact that _both_ presumably desperately wanted a baby. Even though she were in remission because of the chemotherapy and radiation Marisol had undergone, her getting pregnant was very difficult, most likely impossible. The two had talked about adoption or having a baby through a surrogate mother. After they married, Marisol realized just _how_ much Horatio wanted children and that a baby was going to take much of his attention from her. She liked, no loved, being the center of his attention and didn't want that to change.

When Horatio filed for divorce after realizing he didn't want to live with someone who had emotionally duped him, he thought Eric would be angry with him. Eric wasn't angry with Horatio. In fact, he was relieved. He was angry with Marisol and felt sorry for Horatio, Eric's whole family did. Marisol hadn't asked the court for Horatio to pay her any alimony or for any of Horatio's assets. Everything that was his before was still his. She did so because her parents, two sisters and brother were on Horatio's side and she knew it. Eric apologized to him several times.

"You didn't deserve this, H. I'm sorry."

"Eric," Horatio told him, "none of this is your fault. It's all right. I'll make it."

Maybe this was why Horatio became so attached to Chloe. She was like the child he thought he came so close to having. He was like a second dad to her. The bond the two had was almost as close as the one Chloe had with Eric. If mommy or daddy weren't around and Chloe got frightened or upset uncle Horatio could sooth her just as easily. In the event that something happened to both Eric and Calleigh when their child was still young Chloe would be raised by Horatio. Eric's family didn't have a problem with this because they saw the intense bond the two had and knew that Horatio would never shut them out of Chloe's life.

Then there was Marisol. She had held Chloe once; when she was a week old, the then-newborn had spat up on her aunt. Marisol hadn't even touched Chloe since. It had bothered Marisol how the family had seemed to focus on Eric after he was shot. Then when Chloe was born how everyone fussed over her. Marisol seldom to never attended family gatherings now. Horatio was still considered family to the Delkos, was often there and received a very warm welcome.

In Chloe's mind when it came to extended family there was uncle Horatio (or uncle H), Auntie Alexx and her kids and husband, uncle Frank, Ryan ("'Yan") and Natalia ("'Alia") Aunt Paloma and Aunt Rachel who were her dad's sisters (with their kids and husbands), Nana and pop-pop, her dad's parents and Aunt Roberta, her mom's aunt. Chloe had thrown up on uncle Horatio the first time he held her, Horatio had laughed. He told Eric he took it as a sign she liked him. She didn't know Marisol or Calleigh hadn't allowed her parents to have a relationship with Chloe. The two were still drunks, off the wagon more than on. She and Eric didn't want Chloe exposed to that. Plus along with the already rocky relationship Calleigh and her mother already had, her mother flat-out refused to view or refer to Chloe as Calleigh's daughter, even in the presence of the little girl. This was the only way in which Calleigh's parents differed, her father even called Chloe his grandchild. Calleigh and Eric willing to let her father, Duke have a relationship with their daughter on the condition that he got and stayed sober. Duke couldn't do that so even though he thought of the girl as his grandchild the two didn't have a relationship.

Sometimes the definition of family had little to do with blood.


	12. A Dangerous Mind & The Accident

_**A Dangerous Mind**_

Finally Jake had come up with a plan to show Calleigh Duquesne she belonged to _him and only him._ His stalking had paid off. This weekend he had found out that Calleigh was leaving work early to drive out to the keys to meet some of old college friends, planning to return on late Saturday evening. It was going to be so easy to follow her out there and run her off the side of the highway. Even if she was killed, she'd die knowing she had made a horrible mistake by choosing _Eric Delko_ over him.

_**The Accident**_

The words kept running through Eric's head. Calleigh had been in an accident. Her car had been ran off the highway and down the embankment teetering on the driver's side wheels before landing back on four wheels. The driver's side air bags had deployed but not before Calleigh had struck her head off the dashboard, putting a two-inch gash in the left side of her side and immediately getting knocked unconscious. She had seen the driver of the car that drove her off the road. A man with a goatee and stringy blond hair wearing a gray bucket hat. He drove a dark blue Toyota. Jake had found a very authentic-looking disguise. Calleigh did not realize who it was.

Another driver on the highway had called 911 for help after witnessing the blue Toyota force the two-door red car off the road. The passenger in the same vehicle got a clear look at the driver and four digits of the license plate. At the lab Eric had grabbed his kit and about to head out to the scene when Horatio stopped him.

_"Eric," Horatio told him. "Don't. It's Calleigh," he whispered. _

_ Eric felt his heart stop. Life couldn't have been more perfect for Calleigh and him and their daughter. Although nothing was decided yet, they had been talking about marriage more often. They had decided that Chloe needed a backyard to play in. They had just moved into a five-bedroom bungalow with a fairly large fenced-in yard and a small back deck._ _ The fifth 'bedroom' was about the size of a large walk-in closet. But it could hold a small futon, tony dresser and a coat rack. It could do in a pinch for extra company. The couple was looking forward to having Chloe's third birthday party at their new home in two months._

Right now Calleigh was in surgery; she had a ruptured spline that couldn't wait to be removed. She had "some swelling on the brain" according to the doctor but Calleigh would make a full recovery. The doctor expected her to regain conscious by the evening or possibly that night. Eric was also warned that Calleigh "may have some form of temporary amnesia" because of the hit to her head.

However, Calleigh didn't open her eyes till after four a.m.. Her memory was still fuzzy from the anesthesia. She could only immediately remember two things: putting her daughter in the car to take her to daycare that morning, then losing control of her car. She gasped in terror. She thought that Chloe was in the car during the accident. Eric had refused to leave her side. He was in a restless sleep on the small love seat several feet away.

_"Chloe!"_

Eric jumped up from the couch at the sound of Calleigh's voice and ran to her side.

"Calleigh. Calleigh, it's all right, sweetheart. I'm here. Chloe's fine. She wasn't with you, honey."

Calleigh's breathing calmed down.

"Eric, I know I was in a car accident but I don't remember anything else—"

"Honey, shh. Don't worry about any of that right now. Please, just relax_."_

Jake thought he was home free. Several miles from the Florida-Georgia border he had parked his own car, a silver Honda Accord on an empty side road. In the backseat of that car was one over-night bag. Among the contents of that bag was his passport and one-way ticket to Rio, Brazil that he had purchased a week before. In less than 36 hours, he would be on a plane departing from Atlanta International Airport. He knew the extradition treaty between Brazil and the USA was so limited it barely existed—_if_ he was ever found there. The car he had used to hopefully kill Calleigh belonged to his aunt. Alma had been in a nursing home for three years now. Before dementia had completely overtook her mind Alma Shea-Berkley had told the attorney controlling her affairs that her nephew could use the car whenever he wanted. He had his own key and the staff at the parking garbage where the car was kept knew he could take the car.

Before driving away in his own Jake took off his disguise and threw the hat, wig and goatee in the front of the Toyota, he then lit a match and tossed it into the front seat and walked away.


	13. The Only Suspect & An Arrest Warrant

_**The Only Suspect & An Arrest Warrant**_

Both Eric and Calleigh had told Horatio about the 'confrontation' Calleigh had had with Jake in the parking garage several months back. This was only enough to possibly make a suspect. However when the burned blue Toyota was found and the tags were traced to an Alma Shea-Berkley, a woman with dementia living in a nursing home, the connection was made to former police detective Jake Berkley. Jake Berkley had been stripped of his badge weeks ago after testing positive for cocaine. His exposure wasn't passive, he had been snorting the drug for a month.

The fire Jake had set in the front set of the car had destroyed much of any DNA evidence or fingerprints but the remains of a disguise, a gray bucket hat, a goatee and wig of stringy blond hair. It was a long shot but it was possible the heat hadn't destroyed all the DNA in the disguise.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Frank?" Ryan asked as he examined the disguise.

"One Jake Berkley's time as a free man is ticking away," Frank said.

The discovery of the car linked to Jake had enabled detectives to obtain a search warrant for Jake's home and property; there they found the "mother load." Photo album after photo album of pictures of Calleigh, pictures she usually didn't know were being taken, ones with her and Eric and Chloe and of her and Eric together. All dated from the digital camera he used. In one of the rooms, these photos were all over one wall in what could only be called a shrine to Calleigh. In the shrine photos Eric and Chloe's faces were blacked out with the a marker. An arrest warrant was issued for Jake Berkley and an all points bulletin was broadcast.

"This nut really did go over the deep end," Frank murmured.

Frank had never liked Jake Berkley.

"Where you able to speak to the aunt, Frank?" Horatio asked, while at Jake's home.

Frank shook his head. He had gone to the Coral Gables nursing home. He hadn't taken the attorney's word that the woman was non-verbal. But she was. She didn't know who she was and was not aware of her surroundings. She hadn't spoken a word in six months according to the staff.

"The lawyer was telling the truth. The poor woman doesn't know her own name anymore or what's going on around her. She won't be able to give us anything."

The minuscule amount of DNA around the mouth of the goatee was too degraded by the heat from the fire for testing. Still there was enough circumstantial evidence to convict Jake of attempted murder as well as reckless endangerment for the danger he had posed to the others on the highway.

An all points bulletin meant that if Jake tried to board a plane the warrant would come up when he passed through security. This wasn't going to happen for another 24 hours. Right now he lay low in a cheap motel room across the airport. Two plastic bags of corner store snack food and instant meals enabled him to hide out in the room with the shades drawn. He would leave only once, to go to the airport. As much TV as he watched, Jake didn't see the APB out for him. The clerk who had signed him didn't notice it, either.

Calleigh's condition was being kept secret. Horatio feared if Jake found she were still alive and expected to recover he would come after her again. Calleigh had been shown the photo albums filled with the secretly taken photos and told of the "shrine." All the photos had bothered her. She couldn't believe even _Jake_ would go to this level. Still seeing the pictures of Chloe, Eric and her playing at the park, Eric tossing the child in the air and Chloe laughing and out as a family off the job made Calleigh want to rip Jake's throat out.

_How __dare__ you bring my child into this,_ she thought.


	14. Caught!

_**Caught**_

An alert employee recognized Jake Berkley as Jake waited in line to check in his luggage. She pressed a silent alarm to alert security. As two guards approached him Jake panicked and tried to run. He was quickly tacked, restrained and put in a pair flex cuffs. He was detained by security till Atlanta police arrived, placed him under arrest and bought him down to the county jail.

Horatio drove down to Georgia with the notice of extradition from the governor.

_"What do you want, Caine?" Jake said when he was led into the room by a guard. "They may have taken my badge but I'm not stupid. I don't gotta tell you nothin', especially without a lawyer."_

_"You're right, Mr.Berkley. You don't. I'm here to do the talking and I suggest you listen. You left us a very clear trail of evidence. You used your aunt's car, the parking attendant will testify that you took the car on Tuesday_._ A witness saw your license plate. You set the car on fire but we still found your disguise_.

_"You, my friend, are in big trouble. We were able to get a search after what we found in your car. We found your treasure trove of photos. You've been stalking Calleigh and Eric for quite awhile, haven't you? Not a very smart idea, leaving the date on your photography. _

_"Calleigh pulled through. She is prepared to testify against you. You lost any chance she may forget or omit something and be easy on you in her testimony when you took photos of her child."_

_"Delko's kid," Jake said._

_Horatio ignored the comment._

_As Horatio thought all along, Jake planned to fight extradition back to Miami. By the evening Jake retained a Miami attorney and that attorney had filed a motion fighting extradition. Jake would be in the Atlanta jail till then._


	15. Visiting Hours

_**Visiting Hours**_

"I go see mommy?" Chloe Delko said for about the hundredth time that morning.

Eric was getting his daughter dressed for the day. And yes, she was going to see her mom. After four days Calleigh had been moved from the constant care unit to a regular room. That meant he could bring Chloe to see her. Because Calleigh had been in the ICU Chloe hadn't seen her mother or even heard her voice in four days. Eric couldn't imagine how long that had felt to Chloe.

"Yes, princesa, you're going to see mommy," he replied, smiling. Eric didn't, he couldn't get annoyed by the child repetition of the same phrase. He knew how excited she must be "You know what? Mommy missed you just as much you missed her."

Eric knew it would be useless to try and get Chloe to sit and eat breakfast so before they went to a café to pick up breakfast. Eric knew Chloe was going to get hungry and she would definitely eat with Calleigh. At the Hallmark store next to the café Eric stopped to buy his girlfriend a card and flowers. He decided to let Chloe get her mom something too; her choice, something that always made _her_ feel better; a beanie baby and a bundle of lollipops. When they reached the hospital Eric noticed Calleigh's doctor near the nurses' station and the two spoke for a moment. But Chloe couldn't wait any more. Calleigh's room was right behind the nurses' station, less than two feet away. She walked away from her father and to the room door, turned the handle and pushed it open. Just before the child opened the door Calleigh had been poking at the hospital breakfast, scrambled eggs that seemed to jump when she poked them with her fork. It turned her stomach. She knew Eric would bring her breakfast when he came in.

Calleigh heard the handle of the room door click and saw it opening slowly. "Mommy? Are 'ou in 'ere?" She heard a small voice call out.

Calleigh laughed. That was her daughter, all right. No doubt Eric had stopped to talk to someone and Chloe got impatient.

"Yes, sweetpea. I'm here."

"_Mommy!_" Chloe screamed excitedly, running to the bed.

Eric heard that and looked to his side. No Chloe.

"I guess your lil' one didn't want to wait," the doctor said.

Eric smiled. He stepped into the room seconds behind his daughter, lifting her onto the bed so she could hug Calleigh. He watched as the little girl wrapped her arms and legs around the woman he loved, putting her small palms on her mom's cheeks, placing tiny kisses on Calleigh's nose and lips. Calleigh held the child tight.

"I missed you, baby girl," Calleigh whispered to Chloe.

Calleigh was released from the hospital two days later. She would be off work for another six weeks and when she returned to work go on "ease back" for a month. Before Chloe came along and she and Eric admitted they were two people in love with each other, having to be off work for six weeks would have drove her insane, then when she got back to work, having to do another round of proficiency tests because of the accident would have annoyed her to the hilt. Now none of that mattered, raising Chloe had made Calleigh realize there were things in life not worth getting upset over. She had survived something that others may not have, having to wait to go back to her job was insignificant. Chloe wouldn't be going to daycare while Calleigh was home. She was looking forward to spending quality time with Chloe in those weeks.

Horatio dropped in to see the three the first night Calleigh was home. The two knew that no doubt Horatio dropped by to say hello and see Calleigh but they also knew he most likely had something to tell them. They knew their supervisor had been to Georgia to hand-deliver the letter of extradition to the Atlanta district attorney. Nobody said anything in the presence of Chloe. As fair as the child knew what had happened to her mother was just that, an accident, not a plot of a jealous former detective.

"Let me guess," Calleigh said when Eric was tucking Chloe into bed. "Jake is fighting extradition."

Horatio nodded. "On the grounds he won't get a fair trial in Florida 'because all the departments have turned on him.' He ironically also says that he didn't commit any crime in Georgia so they have no right to hold him. Therefore, he should be released."

"You have to be _kidding_ me," Calleigh muttered.

"He's just stalling, Calleigh. No judge would ever grant either motion."

Calleigh knew that but it only served to hate Jake Berkley more.

_I've decided to bring back Speedle! I'll post the next chapter ASAP!_


	16. Helping Out Friends

_**Helping Out Friends**_

Tim Speedle aka 'Speed' to his co-workers at the Miami Dade Crime Lab had transferred to the night shift two years before. Although he was still close friends with Eric and Calleigh the relationship had changed a bit since the two had become parents. Tim was never all that comfortable with kids but he enjoyed being around Chloe Delko. He thought she were a 'cute kid' from the time his friend Eric had introduced his daughter to him. Tim felt relieved that he hadn't been in the lab, he had been out on a scene, when Melissa Jakobs had come in to the lab. He wouldn't have known what to say to his friend. When Tim thought about it, although he thought Delko had done the right thing and was a great father to his daughter, Tim wasn't sure if he could have done the same.

With the team short-handed, Tim temporarily went back to the day shift to help process Calleigh's case. He hadn't been obligated to do so but Tim wanted to "nail the prick" who tried to kill Calleigh. Eric wasn't allowed to work the case for obvious reasons. And he wasn't about to try for fear the defense attorney would cry conflict of interest and cause Jake to be acquitted. He could work other cases at the lab. Eric was going to stay home for five days with his daughter and lover. After his mother and sisters would be coming over during the day to do cooking and housework. His girlfriend was supposed ro take it easy anyway. Calleigh could spend her time with Chloe. And others could look after the unimportant things like housework.

Although everyone knows children are resilient, people close to the Delko-Duquesne family knew that even for a child Chloe's age, or especially so, that hearing mommy was "hurt in an accident" and then not seeing or hearing from her in almost five days had caused Chloe much anxiety and a few weeks of having mommy home with her was what she needed.

Jake's extradition hearing was set for two weeks after Calleigh was released from the hospital. She and Eric tried their best to forget about him for the moment. Jake Berkley had wanted to control their lives and they weren't about to give him that.

Jake knew he would be going back to Miami. There was no way a judge was going to rule in his favor. He_ was_ stalling. He was also proposing a defense to his lawyer that the attorney was not sure he was comfortable with. Jake was claiming "extreme emotional disturbance." He was in love with Calleigh Duquesne. He was upset when she ended what "_she"_ called a "fling." In short, Jake said he thought Calleigh was "flaunting" her new life in his face. He claimed that he was drove to the deep end to see 'Delko's brat' calling Calleigh 'mommy' and Calleigh "so in love with a kid that wasn't hers no matter what she said."

Calleigh's relationship didn't drive him to do this. The mere existence of Chloe Gabriella Delko did. He wasn't back in Florida yet and he wouldn't have to mount his defense till then. He wasn't prepared for a reaction he would incite from the CSI team, the prosecutor and the presiding judge.


	17. Distressing News

_**Stressing News**_

Today was not a good day. It was Eric's first day back at work _and_ in two days Jake Berkley would be an inmate at the Dade County jail. The Miami district attorney had managed to get Jake's extradition hearing moved up with the assistance of the Atlanta prosecutor. As expected, the former detective had promptly lost his motion at this morning's hearing and by Wednesday he would be back in Miami. Jake would be in "protective custody" in prison because of his law enforcement history but Eric wished that he would released to the general population for just a few hours so the state could save the cost of a trial. Eric knew just how Calleigh wanted to face Jake in court, especially after hearing Jake's proposed defense; it was all Chloe Delko's fault he did this.

This infuriated the whole team. How _dare_ Jake blame a three-year-old for what he did? The judge ruling on his defense felt the same way.

_"I __refuse__ to let the defendant put the blame for his actions squarely on the shoulders of a child. Furthermore, I am limiting the mention of this child unless it directly relates to the events of the day in question. I am also banning all use of this child's name. Got it?_

_"Mr. Berkley can proceed with his defense if he so chooses but is __forbidden__ to make __any__ mention of Chloe Delko."_

The judge knew Jake would have a difficult time with this defense with all the evidence the prosecutor had. The defense had tried to get nearly everything suppressed but because as Horatio put it, the crime was so "sloppy" all the evidence was ruled legally optioned and admissible.

Calleigh was feeling stressed on with the knowledge sometime on Wednesday Jake Berkley would be back in Miami, even if it was in the county jail. Her daughter was a good distraction. The two blew bubbles on the deck and Chloe showed her mom how she could build a sand castle. Later in the day Eric's parents and their daughter Paloma came over. The grandparents knew how bad Chloe wanted to go to the new "Big Cat" exhibit at the zoo. The two women hung out at the house while Pavel and Chlorinda took Chloe to the zoo. Daddy was just pulling into the driveway when they were getting back.

"Daddy! Daddy! I saw tigers and jaguars!" Chloe exclaimed, running up to Eric.

"You did?" Eric said, bending down to his daughter.

"Yeah! They were _big!_"

"I bet they were. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah. And I ate hotdogs, too."

"Sounds like you had a great day, sweetheart."

Eric was glad both his girls were able to have a good day and Calleigh was able to forget about Jake Berkley for just a little while.


	18. In Need of Help

_**In Need of Help**_

Eric knew Calleigh was afraid. Now that Jake was going to be back in Miami in 48 hours, even if he was in jail she was still worried he could get to her, or worse, get to Chloe. She was afraid for herself but _terrified_ for Chloe. Everyone knew now what Jake was capable of. If he could do this to her, Calleigh told what would he do to an innocent child who could in no way defend herself, a child he blamed for keeping the woman he was obsessed with away from him?

The last thing she wanted was for her fear to spell over to her child but Calleigh found herself panicking when Chloe was out of her sight for two minutes. She didn't even like for the child to go as far as the backyard, even though the yard was enclosed by a privacy fence and the back of their home was surrounded by other houses. She knew Chloe didn't deserve to coped up in the house so Calleigh would swallow her fear and let the girl play outside. Calleigh would stay out on the deck and watch her. She hadn't even really wanted for Chloe to take the trip to the zoo the day before but she forced herself to say 'yes' knowing Pavel and Chlordina would protect Chloe as much as she and Eric would and her daughter deserved a day out of the house. She literally breathed a sigh of relief when the three came back. She enjoyed listening to Chloe talk about the animals. She laughed till her sides hurt watching how animated the girl was at imitating the elephants.

"Daddy said he would take me to da zoo again on Saturday. He wants to see da tigers and jaguars, too," Chloe said. Looking up at her mother she asked, "will you come wit me dis time, mommy?"

Calleigh could tell by the concern in daughter's eyes and voice that even if she hadn't wanted the girl to know of her stress Chloe knew something was not right. Calleigh smiled softly.

"Sure, baby."

Calleigh needed to talk to Eric tonight. She knew she needed some help with dealing with the aftermath of what happened to her. Jake Berkley hadn't killed her and she'd be damned if she was going to allow him to destroy her life, the family she had with Eric and her career. She was determined to start going out again _and_ feel fine with her daughter wanting to play in their own backyard. She had made an appointment with a therapist outside of the department for Thursday, the day after Jake was to be returned to Miami.

She snuggled into Eric that night as they lay together in bed. Eric kissed her head. He was glad Calleigh had decided to get some help not only for herself but for the sake of their family. Still, he loved her no matter what.

"I have an appointment for 11:00 but your parents are busy," she told Eric. "I don't want to put Chloe at the daycare center for such a short time."

"Don't worry, querida. I'll talk to H. I'm sure he won't mind if you bring her by the lab. I'm sure someone will be able to look after her. I'm sure if he can, uncle H will make himself available."

Horatio was pleased to hear that his CSI was getting professional help to deal with the trauma of her accident. And just as Eric thought Horatio made himself available to watch his goddaughter.

"Sure. Have her bring Chloe in. I'll take my lunch then, I'll watch her."

"Thanks, H. Oh, by the way, you're probably going to hear a lot about the new exhibit at the zoo. She's completely fascinated by it."

Horatio smiled. "Lookin' forward to it."


	19. Living Again

_**Living Again**_

Calleigh woke up early the next morning. Tuesday. The clock read 6:15. Eric was just waking up. He turned over and kissed her lips.

"Good mornin', querida," he said, running his fingers through her hair.

"Mornin' handsome," his girlfriend replied smiling.

The two lingered in bed together for several minutes before Eric had to get up for work. Calleigh wasn't getting up yet. Chloe was always up by 7:30 and would promptly come and jump on the bed to wake mommy up for breakfast.

Today, Calleigh decided she would start fighting the fear she had started to develop of the outside world thanks to a prick named Jake Berkley. This afternoon she and Chloe were going to go for a walk to the ice parlor and park up the street.

_Jake Berkley is not out there, _she told herself. _He can't hurt Chloe._

She knew Chloe would enjoy the time, the fresh air, ice cream and most of all having her mom back.

Chloe came to the room earlier than usual; 7:00. But she didn't want mommy to get up right away.

"No," she said, laying on her mom's chest when Calleigh tried to sit up. "Not now. Big hug first,"

Calleigh smiled and wrapped her arms tightly around Chloe. She thought her daughter's suggestion was a great idea.

Eric was surprised, very happily surprised to find when he called that no one was home. He called Calleigh's cellphone while the two were at the ice cream parlor.

"Where are you?" He asked her out of curiosity.

"We're at Ruby's, eating ice cream. We just went to the park," she told him.

"Without _me_?" Eric teased her. "Now I'm upset."

"Too bad, buster," Calleigh laughed.

"I talked to H. He said go ahead and bring Chloe in on Thursday, he said he'll take his lunch break and watch her. He's looking forward to hearing all about the zoo," Eric chuckled.

_**The next chapter will include Jake's return!**_

_**Translations**_

Querida- beloved


	20. Dreaded Wednesday

_**Dreaded Wednesday**_

_Wednesday_.

The day had come that Jake was on his way back to Miami.

Calleigh didn't want to be alone today. Eric hated the fact he had no choice but to go to work. Still he had a plan for his lover and daughter not to be alone. At 7:45 before Eric left his father, Pavel came over. Calleigh and Chloe going to spend the day at Eric's parents' home.

Chloe was in her room, packing some of her favorite toys into her backpack, even though she had a trunk full of toys, not to mention a shelf of cartoons and books at nana and pop-pop's. Her mom was packing some extra clothes for her, a must for going anywhere with a toddler.

Chloe hadn't asked why she and mommy were going to her grandparents house till daddy picked them up when he was finished at work. She loved visiting their house so she didn't care why they were going there.

_"Where's my kiss?" Eric said picking up his daughter in his arms before he left. At first, Chloe playfully pulled away from her daddy. He tickled her belly and she laughed. Chloe put her arms her father's neck and placed a wet kiss on his lips._

_"Te amo, papi," Chloe said to Eric._

_"__El papi le ama, tambien, princesa.__" Eric said, kissing his daughter's cheeks._ _"You have a good at nana and pop-pop's. I'll see you this evening."_

Calleigh enjoyed the day with her in-laws in spite of her nerves about Jake being back.

By 4:00pm that evening Jake Berkley was officially transferred to the custody of the Miami-Dade County Police Department. Frank and Ryan, along with four officers were there to take custody of him arrived in the parking lot of the Miami-Dade County Jail.

_"Welcome back, Berkley, Didn't expect to find yourself under __this__ sun, did you?"Frank said to Jake icily, in reference to Jake's failed flight to Rio._

_Ryan said nothing. He just gave the former detective a mean stare and Det. Tripp handcuffed the new prisoner._

_"I'm sure you know the drill, "__ Ryan told him as he began the process of fingerprinting and processing Jake. "Palms up."_

_Jake only scoffed as his hand prints, fingerprints were taken, this time as an inmate, not an officer of the law._

_"So tell me, Wolfe, Tripp, where did I go wrong?" Jake smirked. " And how come big red and Delko didn't come to greet me? I was looking forward to the conversation."_

_"They're probably out arresting the person who'll be your cellmate tonight," Tripp answered. "And you went wrong when you tried to kill Calleigh." _

_Shortly thereafter a prison cell door slammed behind Jake Berkley. The disgraced former detective was now an inmate in an orange jumpsuit._

_As Calleigh's boyfriend, Eric had __really__ wanted to "greet" Jake at the jail. But he also knew there was __no__way__ he would be able to control himself from trying to beat Jake to a pulp. His co-workers would have had to restrain him, and Jake would only use that to his advantage. "Big Red" as Jake referred to Horatio, couldn't fit the meeting into his schedule that day and wouldn't have given the prisoner the satisfaction anyway. _

At the Delkos' house Rachel had come over to visit her mother. She had bought her two sons, Diego, who was five and Jose, who was seven. Their school had an in-service day. The two boys were like big brothers to Chloe. All the family knew that the accident and the whole Jake situation had traumatized the woman Eric loved and made her even more protective of their child. That was one of reasons she was about to start counseling. She knew she was beginning to be _too_ protective of the toddler _and _Calleigh, herself realized she was almost always felt nervous. A prime example of that came when Chloe and the two boys were playing in the backyard. Calleigh knew they were "perfectly safe" there. But when she heard a shriek from her daughter, even though it was shriek of joy followed by giggles because Jose was tickling her, a look of fright came to her face for a few seconds.

Rachel didn't say anything but Chlordina gave Calleigh a hug, whispering to her that things would be better soon.

_**Translations**_

_Te amo, papi - __**I love you, daddy.**_

_El papi le ama, tambien, princesa.__- __**Daddy loves you, too, princess**__._

_My Spanish comes Yahoo! Babel Fish. I'm not sure how accurate it is at times. Feel free to give me any corrections in reviews!_


	21. Fun with Uncle Horatio

_**Fun with Uncle Horatio**_

Horatio Caine smiled as the dark-haired little girl with brown eyes ran out of the elevator and into his arms. He loved Chloe Delko with every cell in his body. Having never gotten the chance to be a dad himself Horatio couldn't explain the gratitude he felt when Eric asked him to be Chloe's godfather, to raise the little girl, to take care of her and love her like his own if anything happened to him and Calleigh while the child was still young. And to love and be there for her even if she were no longer a child. It would be impossible for Horatio to do anything but that.

Horatio knew he wasn't Chloe's dad. Eric was. He wouldn't ever over-stepped those boundaries but he _already_ loved Chloe as his own child. Chloe knew how much _she_ loved uncle Horatio but he wasn't daddy, she loved daddy differently and more. Still uncle Horatio made her feel safe and secure and was definitely a whole lot of fun to be with.

_"I go see daddy at work?" Chloe asked curiously from the back seat._

_"No, sweetie_._ Daddy's busy. Uncle Horatio is going to take care of you till I get back."_

_"Yay!" Chloe said._

The Thursday of her mom's appointment, in a rush to get out the door on time after sleeping in Calleigh had forgotten Chloe's packed lunch. She didn't realize it till they were at the lab.

"Oh no. Mommy forgot your lunch," Calleigh said to Chloe who was now in Horatio's arms.

"That's fine, Calleigh. I got Chinese food. I knew I had a date. I remembered her tastes."

Some people would think Chloe had unique tastes for a toddler. One of her very favorite dishes was sweet and sour chicken with chicken fried rice.

"Okay. Thanks, Horatio. I'll be back as soon as I can," Calleigh smiled. "Bye, Chloe. Mommy will be back."

"Take all the time you need, Calleigh," Horatio told her. "This one will be taken care of."

Calleigh knew what that really meant; he didn't want to rush through her therapy session.

Speed entered the breakroom where Horatio and Chloe were eating. He saw Horatio but didn't notice Chloe. He was startled by a little voice when he opened the frig door.

"Hi Speed!" Chloe said from the table.

Speed jumped and turned around.

"Oh. Hi Chloe. Came to visit us, did you?"

Chloe nodded. "Mommy had to go out."

Tim was a little surprised that the little girl had remembered and called him by his nickname.

Sometimes when he was with his godchild Horatio still thought about his ex-wife, Marisol. But when he thought about her now, he wasn't missing the person he _thought_ she was when he married her but thinking from the person she truly was maybe it was a positive thing that they had never had a child. Marisol believed the world revolved around her and Horatio realized when he divorced her that it wasn't possible for her to put someone else first and herself second. From how coldly she had treated Chloe when Chloe were just a newborn Horatio was glad that the child didn't know Marisol now because the child would be treated the same way and now she were old enough to feel it but not understand why.

_Up next: Jake is causing trouble at the jail!_


	22. Trouble at the Jail

_**Trouble at the Jail**_

Jake wasn't in jail a full 48 hours before he was placed in solitary confinement. He had assaulted two guards when they tried to extract him from his cell. One of the guards had to be taken to the hospital. Nobody was surprised by this. Since he had been booked into the jail he had been ignoring direct orders from correction officers and he was demanding that he be able to see Calleigh. This wasn't permitted for obvious reasons. Even if Calleigh had decided _she_ wanted or needed to confront Jake before trial, she couldn't.

Eric had sensed that Jake Berkley had a violent temper about him from the day the two detectives met. He saw that Det. Berkley was skilled at hiding that temper when it was to his advantage to do so, like when he were around Calleigh.

Eric stayed in the lab the day Jake was transported back to Miami; he thought if he was "let out" and happened to cross paths with Jake Berkley he wouldn't be going to the two people he loved, Chloe and Calleigh. Despite the reason she were off work Eric could see that his girlfriend was very much enjoying the extra time with their child. Right now just being "mommy" seemed to be therapeutic for her.

Word about Jake got back to Eric at the lab through Ryan.

_"Ol' Berkley isn't taking being on the other side too well," he told Eric as he walked into the trace lab. _

_Eric snorted. "Really?"_

_Naturally Eric didn't feel any sympathy for Berkley._

_"Yeah. They already got 'em in solitary_. _He attacked two c.o.'s. One's still at the hospital but he's okay._"

_"That's not going to endear him with the judge_,_" Eric replied._

_Note: "c.o." is slang for corrections officer._

_**Up next, Chloe's third birthday!**_


	23. Birthday Girl

_**Birthday Girl**_

A day before his daughter's birthday party Eric had spoken to his father and learned that Marisol had come to their house and thrown a fit regarding the day. Her problem being that her ex was going to be there and the fact her niece was so enthralled with him bothered her. After all, she said _"if"_ she decided to come to the party, _"if"_ she had the time in her day, it was "unfair" to her that "_he" _be there.

_"Horatio __loves__ Chloe, Mari and she loves him back," Pavel told his daughter. "And he __knows__ her, unlike you, he took the time to actually establish a relationship with her. Chloe knows your name and that's you're her daddy's sister but you're no aunt to her. Horatio is so much more family to her than you. He has every right to celebrate the day with us and he's welcome. If this is going to be your attitude, __don't__ come to the party."_

Frankly Eric and Calleigh didn't want Marisol at their child's party and Pavel knew what he had said to his spoiled daughter would keep her from the party. Even as her parents Pavel and Chlordina knew what their daughter was like and were often ashamed of how he conducted herself, like when she pretended to be someone she wasn't to get Horatio Caine to marry her. They were deeply ashamed that how apparent it was that a grown woman like Marisol was _jealous_ of an innocent little girl. They had no idea _how_ she got to be that way; their other children weren't like that at all and they had treated all their children the same.

Chloe enjoyed her "birfday" party. Her birthday present from mommy and daddy was something she had her eye for months; a Power Wheels Ford Mustang. They were even able to find one with purple seats and a set of purple stripes on the hood, accompanied by a purple helmet. Purple was Chloe's favorite color.

Along with her grandparents, two cousins Jose and Diego, her aunt Rachel, Rachel's husband Carlos, her aunt Paloma, her son Elijah and fiancé Gil, Alexx came and bought her daughter and son who were eight and eleven. Even Frank, Ryan, Speed and Natalia came. Of course uncle Horatio was there. It was a family party, none of her friends from daycare were there. Chloe had visited the center a week prior to her birthday. Her parents thought it would good for her to see some of her little friends. Plus once a month the staff had a birthday party for any of the children who had a birthday that month; Calleigh bought Chloe in for the party she shared with two other little girls.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the family party. When all the guests arrived Chloe's parents knew they made a good decision, deciding to have the party at Eric's parents' home. Their home and property were much bigger, better for a birthday party with children and adults. Even the adults enjoyed the pinata. None of the kids could break the candy-filled creation on the first try but on his second try Diego broke it, sending all the children diving to the floor for candy.

Horatio stayed at the Delkos' for a little while longer after everyone left. Chloe was already starting to fall asleep on the sofa. She was hugging the build-your-own-teddy-bear that Horatio had given her as a birthday present. He had helped her put the stuffing in the toy that had a pale blue _Cinderella_ costume after the other kids left.


	24. Good Night, Birthday Girl

_**Buenas noches, muchacha del cumpleanos (Good Night, Birthday Girl)**_

"Did you have a good birthday, sweetie?" Calleigh asked her daughter as she and Eric tucked their child into bed.

Chloe nodded, a big smile on her face.

"How old are you now?" Eric asked Chloe, knelt down on the other side of the bed.

Chloe looked thoughtful for a moment, looking at her hand before putting up three fingers.

"Dis many!" She said, proudly.

"That's right, baby girl," Eric said.

"I'm not a baby," his daughter replied. "I'm a big girl."

Eric laughed softly.

"That's right, you certainly are. You might not be a baby anymore, but you're still _our _baby. Can _we_ still call you _our_ baby girl?"

"Otay," Chloe said.

Eric couldn't believe Chloe was three already. Calleigh could tell what he was thinking as he lay in bed.

"She's still going to need her daddy, you know," she said, smiling. "The world can still be a big, scary place."

Eric knew that. His mind drifted back to the first night he had Chloe home when she was just two days old.

_He and his mother had come to a compromise; she had wanted to be able to stay over for the first night or two the baby was home. She wasn't going to "take over." She knew her son had to learn to take care of his daughter, there were only so much she could show him. The only way for him to learn was for him to do it himself. Chlorinda knew Eric would learn quickly because he was so eager to look after Chloe without help. She was only going to intervene if the baby "really, really" cried and it seemed like Eric wasn't able to console her._

_Just before 2:00am the grandmother were half asleep on the sofa when she saw her son enter the kitchen and prepare a bottle for Chloe. She was about to ask him why he were doing so before the baby was even awake but just as the microwave beeped she heard the baby's soft cries coming from the bassinet in Eric's bedroom._

_Eric smiled at his mother. _

_"I fed her at 12:00; every two hours, right? She's right on the button."_

_Chlordina had a look of pride on her face listening to Eric talk to Chloe._

_"What's the matter, angel? Shh. Don't cry. Daddy's here. I love you," He said to her, nuzzling the baby's nose and kissing her tiny lips as he cradled her in the crook of his arm. Chloe started to settle down at the sound of his father's voice._

_The grandmother knew the two would be just fine together._


	25. Just the Two of Us

_**Just The Two of Us**_

It took Eric a few days to arrange everything.

Paloma and Gil had a cottage by the lake in the Florida countryside. The two hadn't been out there since shortly before their son six-month-old Elijah was born. Jake was set to _finally_ go to trial in six weeks after a bunch of delays. Eric wanted to take Calleigh away from it all for a few days, just the two of them. Two weeks after their daughter's birthday he and Calleigh were going away for a four day weekend, leaving on Friday and coming back late on Monday. Accumulated over-time and several extra shifts he had been called in for had enabled Eric to get Friday and Monday off. Calleigh would be back at the lab on "light duty" starting Wednesday. Chloe seemed to be looking forward to seeing her buddies at daycare again, her anxiety regarding her mom's accident seemed to have diminished. The three-year-old seemed excited about spending the time with her relatives, not minding the fact that mommy and daddy wouldn't be there.

Care for their daughter had been split up. Chloe was going to stay with Rachel and her family all of Friday. Eric laughed thinking his sister was going to have quite a headache with all the noise her boys and Chloe made when the three were together. Horatio _hoped_ that he wouldn't be called in on Saturday because he wanted to take Chloe for the day; to the pond on the back of his property to feed the ducks there, then to lunch. Maybe they would even go to the zoo to see the exhibit Chloe loved so much. Saturday night, Sunday and Monday was going to be with nana and pop-pop. Every Sunday afternoon family members, minus Marisol, went to Pavel and Chlorinda's for a big dinner and spent the afternoon.

Eric's sister was only too glad to allow her brother to use the cottage. She told him she would notify the caretaker and have the place cleaned before the two arrived there. Calleigh was touched by the romantic gesture. Calleigh didn't know that through his sister, Eric had the caretaker shop for groceries, including many aphrodisiac foods like strawberries, chocolate, oysters, salmon and champagne. He would took care of the candles, scented and unscented, bubble bath for the two person jacuzzi and massages oils himself.

"Four days with just us, huh, stud?" She said, kissing Eric, seating on his knee. "Sounds wonderful. I can't wait."

_Neither can I,_ Eric thought.

_At the Cabin_

"This place is _beautiful_," Calleigh said, looking at the log cabin on the sprawling property with a natural spring. Despite the beauty of the grounds and the trails to stroll on She was sure they were going to spend much of their time indoors.

"It is," he said as he stopped the car in the driveway. "It's a shame that they haven't been able to get out here in a while.

"We're pretty sure that Elijah was conceived out here. The last time they were out here was on a "baby moon" just before he was born."

Chocolate-covered strawberries were _definitely_ an aphrodisiac or maybe it just the fact that the couple hadn't been alone like this in a while. With the knowledge that Chloe was safe and happy in capable hands they could focus on each other.

Calleigh moaned in pleasure as Eric's thumbs kneaded the muscles of her shoulder blades. This was step two in their foreplay, step one had been a bubble bath in the Jacuzzi, feeding each other chocolate-covered strawberries and drinking champagne.

"I take it you're enjoying my services," Eric whispered in her ear, his lips lightly brushing up against her earlobe.

"Umm," was the only thing Calleigh could reply.

This was only day one. The two could only imagine the enjoyment they would have in the next three days.


	26. Chloe's Friday

_**Chloe's Friday**_

Rachel had a difficult time getting her two sons to go to school on Friday because they knew their cousin was coming over. Her two sons and niece were close and got along wonderfully, even if they were a very loud trio when they got together. Both boys loved Chloe; but as the only girl in the group of four grandchildren she has a special place in everybody's heart or with _two _of her aunts of her three aunts (including the ex-husband of the third aunt who believed Chloe had stolen _her_ spotlight) anyway and then everyone else. Her brother was right as Rachel _did_ get quite a headache after a few hours with three children under eight years old.

Chloe was neither a girly-girl or tomboy, she could be described as somewhere in between. She didn't like Barbie dolls and preferred blue over pink but she adored stuffed animals. Her room at home was full of them. Her favorite things were Lego blocks, Play-Doh, puzzles, and crayons. When she was with her cousins she liked to play in the dirt and look for bugs with them, one of the reasons that Calleigh had packed so much extra clothes for her. She knew Chloe was going to get dirty and she didn't want Rachel to have to do extra laundry. The three spent the afternoon when Diego got out of school looking for bugs in the yard. all children were covered in dirt from head to toe by dinnertime. Rachel had to give them all before she and Carlos took the three out for dinner at KFC.

Chloe cried for mommy and daddy some at bedtime. Although she was having fun and loved her relatives, now that it was bedtime and the bed or house she was in wasn't her own and mommy and daddy weren't there she was a bit homesick. It was her five-year-old cousin, Diego, not her aunt and uncle who was able to make her feel better. Chloe was going to sleep in Diego's room while Diego stayed in Jose's room for that night. Diego told Chloe he would sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag so she wouldn't be alone.

_"Don't worry, Chloe," he said, sitting on the bed next to her. "I'll stay with you. You can wake me up if you're get scared. Can I stay on the floor in my sleeping bag, mami?"_

_ Rachel told him he could._


	27. Saturday Morning

_**Saturday Morning **_

_At the Cabin_

Eric smiled softly at a sleeping Calleigh who had wrapped her arms around his chest. They were both still wrapped in each other, naked from hours of lovemaking. He kissed her brow. His love stirred and gave peaceful sigh. She opened her eyes a moment later.

"Mornin'," she said to Eric, smiling.

"Good morning," he replied.

Without a word, Eric tried to get up from the bed minutes later, knowing the reaction he would get.

"And _where_ do you think _you're_ going?" Calleigh said, straddling Eric.

"Apparently nowhere," he grinned.

_Back in Miami, Little Havana_._ Rachel's House_

Rachel smiled at her five-year-old son's concern at what his three-year-old cousin was going to do with he and his brother both at soccer practice, after which he was going to a birthday party and his brother had Cub Scouts.

"Don't worry about Chloe. She's going to spend most of the day with uncle Horatio then she's spending the night with grandma and grandpa."

At three Chloe still couldn't quite say 'Horatio.' His name often came out "'Ratio." More recently she took to calling him "H' like her dad always did. Horatio found that cute. Horatio had called Rachel's home when the kids were eating breakfast. She told Horatio that he didn't have to come over and get Chloe. Carlos would bring her over when he took the boys to soccer practice. He would put Chloe's safety seat in Horatio's car just in case the two wanted to go anywhere. Rachel packed up Chloe's things to take to Horatio's because he was going to drop her off to Chlorinda and Pavel's house where she was going to spend the next two nights.

There was no worry of Chloe getting bored. Over at her former brother-in-law's house her niece had a chest full of toys, Play-Doh, finger paints, crayons, coloring books, Legos and jigsaw puzzles. There was also a shelf of children's books and movies. A true sign of how much he loved having his godchild in his care.

Looking around Horatio's home some people would think Chloe actually belonged to the lieutenant because along with many photos of his late mother there were many, many photos of the child from the time she was a newborn till now displayed around the house. Chloe once asked her godfather who the lady and little boy were in the pictures.

_"Dat's Chloe," she said pointing to her photos, "but who's dat?"_

_"That's me with my mom when I was a little boy," Horatio told her._

_Chloe knew her godfather's mother was deceased or "in heaven" so she didn't ask about the woman's current whereabouts. _

_"Oh," Chloe said. "Where is your daddy?"_

_In Chloe's world, all kids had a mommy and a daddy, and they were __both__ good people._

_Horatio smiled at her innocence. _

_"My dad didn't live with us," he told her_.

_The little girl was too young and innocent to be told the truth._

Chloe started to squirm with anticipation as the minivan pulled up to the front of Horatio's house and she saw him waiting for her in the driveway. As soon as her uncle Carlos put her down from lifting her out of her car seat she ran over to Horatio. Horatio lifted her up and Chloe put her palms on his cheeks and kissed his face. Horatio smiled.

"Hello sweetheart," he said to Chloe as the two rubbed noses. "I _missed_ you. I haven't seen you in the few days."

The two didn't get the chance to go to the zoo because it started raining shortly after Chloe arrived. They were able to feed the ducks in the back before the rain came. Inside, the crime lab supervisor and the little girl built houses, trees and buildings out of Legos and put lawns and animals around them using Play-Doh. Instead of going out for lunch the two stayed in and had PBJ sandwiches with potato chips on the side for dessert.

Eric called to check on his daughter while she was with her godfather.

"Hi daddy!" She said when Horatio passed her the phone.

"Hi princesa. Are you having fun with uncle H?" Eric asked his daughter.

"Yeah!" Chloe replied, telling her father everything they were doing and what they ate for lunch.

Chloe was curious to know if her parents had done anything fun. He told her the one G-rated bit of 'fun' that was fit for her three-year-old ears. He told her that he and Calleigh had gone for a walk on one of the trails behind the cabin and they seen some strange looking berries they had never seen before.

Chloe didn't really want to leave Horatio's to go nana and pop-pop's as the evening started to arrive, and uncle Horatio wasn't too happy about her leaving, either. Horatio called Chlorinda and asked if she minded if the two had a "sleepover." Chloe had stayed over at Horatio's alone before. He didn't have a spare room so she slept in his bed with him. Horatio was very protective; he would put Chloe on the inside next to the wall so there was no chance she would fall out. Chloe was very cuddly anyway and she often hugged into him at night. Horatio enjoyed that.

"I'll bring Chloe over in time for dinner tomorrow," Horatio told the older woman.

Chlorinda had talked to her granddaughter before Horatio and she had been the first one to mention a "seep over" with H.

"That's fine, Horatio. You're invited tomorrow, too, you know."

Horatio had no trouble putting Chloe to bed that night. After a bubble bath, a snack and bedtime story she was nearly asleep in his lap. He kissed her brow and put the covers over her before he got off the bed. He put two pillows behind the child so she wouldn't fall out when he wasn't there.

The lieutenant smiled at the sleeping girl, truly grateful he was allowed to be such a part of her life.

_This story is far from done but should Calleigh & Eric add to the family in the upcoming sequel? Vote now!_


	28. She's my DAUGHTER, not my stepdaughter!

_I just started a new job, so my spare time is limited. I have decided that Eric & Calleigh __will__ be adding to their family. __Click on my profile name to vote on the next question regarding this__! I appreciate the opinions on this in the reviews but I'd like to see what percentage of readers want one baby or twins._

_**She's my daughter, not my stepdaughter!**_

Calleigh and Eric considered themselves a normal, nuclear family, as did their friends and relatives. They didn't see themselves as a "blended" family and it genuinely bothered them when people referred to them as so. It made Calleigh beyond _furious_ when anyone referred to Chloe as her "stepchild" or herself as Chloe's "stepmother." She was Chloe's _mother_, simple as that. Just because Eric had a genetic connection to _their_ daughter and she didn't, didn't make Calleigh any less Chloe's mother. To be a "stepmother" Chloe had to have a "mother" before Calleigh. Melissa Jakobs didn't qualify; being pregnant and giving birth didn't make someone a mother. Certainly many mothers did give birth but truly being a parent went far beyond that.

The couple planned to marry, not in the immediate future, but soon, for Calleigh to formally adopt Chloe and add to the family in the future. That knowledge sometimes prompted some rude people to say things like "I bet you can't wait for you and Eric to start having your own." The _only_ thing that was going to be new with adding to the family going through pregnancy and childbirth together, something the couple looked forward to. The first day that Calleigh met her child, when Eric had bought Chloe to the lab, when she got off work she had gone straight over to Eric's place, to his surprise, and spent most of the night with the two.

_"Calleigh. Hey," Eric said when he answered the door. Chloe was in the crook of his right arm. "Come on in," he said, stepping aside and closing the door._

_"Thanks. I hope you didn't mind me dropping by. I wanted to get a closer look at this one," Calleigh replied, touching Chloe's cheek. "Without five people standing next to me waiting to take her."_

She held, rocked and fed the newborn. She even changed her diapers. She cooed and fussed over Chloe the way every new mother would over her new baby. Eric let her, watching the interaction with a smile. His little daughter was visibly quite at ease with Calleigh.

The CSI was actually glad to see his co-worker, the same woman who made his heart flutter. Eric was very tired then after being up with Chloe most of the night. Eric laid down on the couch to close his eyes for two minutes and fell asleep.

_"Look at that," Calleigh said to the newborn in her arms, when she walked out from Chloe's room where she changed her diaper. "Your daddy must be tired. We''ll let him take a little nap while you have your milk, okay?"_

Chloe knew that mommy wasn't her "tummy mommy" that she "was born in mommy's heart." The 3-year-old was just fine with that. She realized that if she ever became a big sister that her mommy would be her baby brother or sister's "tummy mommy." Chloe knew that mommy would love her just the same even with a new baby.

_Up next, a criminal trial & an impromptu wedding!_


	29. Impromptu Wedding & A Criminal Trial

_**A Criminal Trial**_ & _**An Impromptu Wedding **_

_I love Jack McCoy as the prosecutor on "Law & Order." I think it stinks that the writers no longer have him in the courtroom. Therefore. I made him the lead prosecutor in the Miami-Dade District Attorney's Office and Calleigh's case._

The chief witness for the prosecution had a surprise for the defendant when she testified at his trial. A surprise Jake Berkley would _not_ like. After she was sworn in on the stand, the first thing he did was apologize to her.

"I'm sorry but I believe I got your last name wrong. It's Delko, formerly Duquesne. You married your husband ten days ago according to what I have here."

"Yes," Calleigh answered, looking at Jake who was clinging his fists white, his face almost purple with rage. A bailiff stood on either side of him, the couple hadn't been there to see it but the defendant had had several outbursts in the first days of his trial. The judge had warned him that another outburst and he would be shackled for the remainder of the trial.

_Eric had proposed to Calleigh the Friday of the week she had returned to work at the lab. He had done so by leaving the ring in an evidence bag._

_He had Horatio's permission to do this and everybody knew his plan. _

_It was near the end of the day when he walked into the ballistics lab and put the bag with the ring on the table next to Calleigh's microscope, attached to the ring was a red evidence tag on which he had wrote "Will you make an honest man of me?"_

_Calleigh had exited the room for a moment thanks to Ryan. When Eric saw her in the hall when she was on her way back he told her he had left her something he wanted her to take a closer look at. She said "okay."_

_When she saw the ring in the bag with the tag next to the microscope, she screamed. Everyone heard her and Eric smiled. Their engagement period was seven days. They were married the following Friday at 3:30 at City Hall in a small, informal ceremony. Eric's parents were there, along with Horatio and Alexx, who served as witnesses, and Frank and of course, Chloe._

_Why did they tie the knot so quick? __Simple. They wanted to. They had waited long enough to let each other know how they felt for one another. Now that they were finally together, not to mention raising a daughter, so why wait? _

_Calleigh still used her former name on the job just because it was easier. Outside the job she used her husband's name. Weeks before they got married, they filed a motion in family court for Calleigh to legally become their daughter's mother. Calleigh was listed as "adoptive-mother-to-be" because they did plan to marry very soon. Eric had just wanted to make it extra special by surprising Calleigh and proposing. The therapist and social worker who conducted the interviews and family evaluations "highly" recommended the judge approve the adoption. Now all they could do was wait. Their attorney had told them the __process would much shorter considering the first step, the longest one, the termination of the biological mother's rights had been completed and finalized a long time ago. _

_Chloe had attended her parents' impromptu wedding ceremony at city hall along with uncle Horatio, Frank, Alexx and her grandparents. Her parents had told her this was a very special event, although she behaved for the brief ceremony, she wasn't that impressed. _

_What kind of "very special event" didn't have clowns, or at least, balloons? The child thought._

_She did, however, enjoy the cake that Alexx had bought to their house afterwards, especially the surgery frosting._

_"What do dat say, daddy?" Chloe asked Eric, pointing to the writing on the cake. She sat in his lap, licking icing off of her fingers._

_Eric was one very happy man on this day. He kissed his child's cheek. He and his now-wife knew it was Chloe's birth that __finally__ bought them together but for Eric, even if she hadn't, he wouldn't taken back being Chloe's father for anything in the world. _

_Calleigh was just as happy as her husband._ _She had wanted to be Mrs. Eric Delko since she had got to know him 5 years ago. At the moment she still couldn't believe her dream had finally come true..._

The prosecution had already shown the jury the "shrine" of photos taken from Jake's home and the some of the many photos that Jake had secretly taken of the Delko family. Calleigh was asked to describe her relationship with the defendant. She told the jury that a little over three years before she had an "on again, off again" relationship with Jake Berkley. She considered it to be "barely serious." The two had not been exclusive. Then when she started a committed relationship with the co-worker who was now her husband after he had a baby girl Jake had approached her in the parking garage of crime lab, visibly very angry upon hearing Calleigh was not single, wanting them to "hook up" again. She had refused and told him stay away. She was with the man she wanted to be with and they had a family.

"Were you or your husband aware that any of these photos were being taken? Did you give consent for this?"

"No. Absolutely not," the CSI replied. "I would have never let him so close to my daughter."

The two other witnesses from the highway had already testified witnessing Jake, wearing a disguise, force Calleigh's car from the highway. Frank and Ryan had testified about discovering the car, the remains of the disguise and linking the car to Jake's aunt.

The last question the prosecutor asked was knowing him for as long as she had, did she believe that Jake was "unstable?" Did he seem consumed in grief by losing her? Or was it just pure jealousy that could make him a threat to her or her family prior to what happened. Calleigh answered no, Jake wasn't "unstable" from what she thought. He didn't react with sadness at the news she had moved on, he reacted with immediate anger. Still she hadn't thought for one second he would follow her every move and try to kill her. If she had she would asked for protection. She managed to say this before the defense could object and the judge could sustain it. Calleigh knew the jury couldn't un-hear what they heard.

Just as she exited the courtroom, a way of sickness overcame Calleigh. She barely made it to the ladies' room where she threw up. She thought it was just the aftermath of the stress of having to face the man who tried to kill her or maybe her little daughter had passed the flu onto her. Chloe was somewhat better today but had been sick with the flu and throwing up that week.

Calleigh was wrong.


	30. Wrong & Happy to be

_**Wrong. And happy to be so.**_

Eric was home with Chloe the day Calleigh was in court. The three-year-old had stopped vomiting but was still ill with a slight fever. She was asleep on top of her dad on the couch when Calleigh arrived home.

"You don't look so good," Eric said to his wife, seeing her pale complexion.

"Thank you, sweetheart," Calleigh answered with a sarcastic smile. "I got sick after I left the courtroom. _Someone_ may have given me her flu," she said smiling towards Chloe.

It was in the back of Eric's wife's mind that she _could_ be pregnant but her cycle wasn't due for another week so she wasn't sure how accurate a home pregnancy test would be. She might ask Alexx about this in the hypothetical the next day at work. Calleigh had suspected she just might be pregnant several day before she went to court. She hadn't kept her thoughts a secret from her new husband. Both were excited at the prospect of having another child. People had _quickly_ learned not to ask or insinuate whether Calleigh would feel closer to a child who was biologically hers. Her expression said it all.

Alexx didn't buy the ballistic expert's 'hypothetical' question for a second.

"How far along do you think you are?" Alexx asked.

"I don't even know if I'm late, yet," Calleigh replied. "I won't get my period for another week."

"You should wait and see if you're late," Alexx said. "And I hope you get the results you're hoping for, sugar. Have you told Eric?""

"Eric, yes. Chloe, no."

_One Week Later_

Calleigh stared down at the two E.P.T. tests on the bathroom sink in front of her. She had got up early, 5:00am, to be exact to do the test. Eric was a solid sleeper and hadn't woken up when she got up from the bed. She was supposed to do it first thing in the morning and she wasn't waiting two hours to pee. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing clearly. Yep. Both read _pregnant. _Calleigh smiled and went back to bed. She promptly fell back to sleep. She was asleep when Eric got out of bed to go to the bathroom. She opened up her eyes to the sound of Eric's voice from the half-bath in their bedroom

"Cal?"

"Yeah?" She called back.

"How accurate are these supposed to be?"

"Look on the box!"

_Good lord! Can't men read? _Calleigh thought.

Eric was smiling walking out the bathroom.

"Ninety-nine percent," he said.

"I'm calling first thing at eight to confirm it," his wife told him, sensing his question. "But you know it'll take a day for them to get back with the results. But I'll ask Alexx how accurate these tests are in her medical opinion, though."

Alexx smiled when her friend again came to her with questions.

"Those tests are accurate 98 percent of the time," Alexx said, smiling. "But there's an occasional faulty one. When's your doctor going to get back to you?"

"I called at 8:00. She can't fit me in till 11:00. Hopefully, I'll know by tomorrow. We have our fingers crossed," she said smiling, leaving the morgue.

The Delkos' family doctor was going on vacation the next day. She had her lab put a rush on the test so it would done by the end of the day and Calleigh could know the results by first thing tomorrow morning.


	31. Confirmation

_**Confirmation**_

"Mrs. Delko?" A voice on the other end of the line said.

"Yes."

The nurse from the doctor's office was calling. She was just about to leave for work, it was 7:45am. Eric didn't have to work till after lunch so he and Chloe were still asleep.

"I'm calling with your test results."

"Okay."

"The test results show you're pregnant. Congratulations. I hope this is good news for you."

"Thank you."

Calleigh walked to the bedroom she shared with Eric. He was still sound asleep. She kissed his lips to wake him up.

"Hmm," Eric murmured, his eyes opening. "Hey you."

"Hey. I have to go to work. But I wanted to let you know the doctor's office just called. I'm pregnant."

Eric grinned and sat up. He took Calleigh's face into his palms and kissed her.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too," she whispered, caressing his cheek.

The couple decided to wait till that night to tell Chloe the news. They wanted to tell her together.

The first thing Calleigh did at the lab was go to Horatio's office.

"Are you busy, Horatio?"

"Not at all, Calleigh. Come in. Sit down. What can I do for you?"

"I know I'm supposed to let the department know right away. I found out less than an hour ago I'm pregnant. I don't know how far along."

"Congratulations. You and Eric must be very happy."

Calleigh smiled.

"We are. Chloe doesn't know yet. We're going to sit her down tonight."

"I wouldn't worry. I'm sure she'll be happy. She loves Elijah. I know my little buddy. I'm sure she'll love having her own baby to play with.

"I assume that you want to be kept in the lab till further notice?" Her boss said.

"Well, _want_ to, no," she said with a smile. Everyone at the lab knew of her love of being out in the field. But the department didn't allow pregnant officers in the field. At least in the lab she could still use her love of guns. "But it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

Horatio didn't know yet but he was going to get the chance to be a godparent again. Wanting to keep their children together in event something horrible happened, Eric and Calleigh planned to ask him to be this child's godparent as well. Even if he had another godchild, the couple knew that Chloe would always have a special place in Horatio's life. That wouldn't make him love an additional godchild any less, particularly since the child would be Chloe's younger sibling.

"Eric. I heard the news. I believe congratulations are in order," Horatio told his friend and collogue, shaking his hand.

"Thanks, H," Eric replied, not able to keep the grin from his face.

Eric was excited about the unexpected baby. He hoped Chloe would be okay with the news. Then again, the true test was going to be when the baby was actually _here_. And he knew time moved differently for kids her age then it did adults. The family was going to have to not 'oversell' the idea of the new baby too much in the months before he or she was born, as excited as they may be. As smart as she was Chloe was not going to understand why the waiting was so long and hearing about the baby day after day would must likely get frustrating and upsetting for her. Alexx had said Chloe might react to the news of the pregnancy with excitement but with jealousy to the baby in the flesh. She cautioned them to let the toddler have her emotions, not to try and force Chloe to "love" the baby right off if the girl said she didn't.

Chloe _was_ very excited to hear about the baby. She was curious if not anxious as to why she had to wait so long for the baby to arrive. That was now. Her parents knew that could change.

According to the level of hormone in the pregnancy test, the lab technician guessed that Calleigh were about four weeks pregnant but an ultrasound was needed to get a closer estimate. Before the family doctor left on vacation she had scheduled an ultrasound and appointment with an OB/GYN for Calleigh. She never wanted any pregnant patient to go two weeks without a follow-up. Calleigh's ultrasound was scheduled for five days later. Calleigh hoped things would work out in the day so Eric could attend.

_For those of you who don't remember, Elijah is the son of Eric's sister, Paloma, making him Chloe's first cousin. He is now ten-months-old._


	32. He got WHAT?

_**He got **__**what**__**?**_

Eric couldn't believe what Horatio had just told him.

Jake Berkley had managed to get an five-day adjournment in his trial The judge gave him a week long "grieving period" and permission, under armed guard to attend a funeral. His aunt Alma, the one whose car he had used to try to kill Eric's wife and mother of his children. Eric wasn't the only one pissed off by this. During the initial investigation when Frank went to the nursing home the staff told him Jake Berkley hadn't been to see his ailing aunt in over a year _then_ "and yet he's able to cry enough crocodile tears to get himself out of his trial for a week." This aggravated everybody but it was a sore spot for Frank because his mother lived in a nursing home. "Frankie" was a good son and visited his mother on a weekly basis.

Eric tried not to let this news throw a wrench into his day. He was looking forward to 1:15pm this afternoon. Calleigh's ultrasound. Horatio told him to "absolutely" take the hour and go. H thought the father-to-be should get to be there with his wife the first time she saw their baby. He knew how much Eric wanted to be there as well.

"Oh Eric. By the way, what did Peanut say when you told her about the baby?"

Eric had forgotten that uncle Horatio wanted how his 'peanut' had taken the news of the impending Delko baby.

_When the couple sat their three-year-old down after dinner and told her they had a surprise for her she was excited. Chloe loved surprises. When she heard that mommy was pregnant and was going to have a baby, the first thing she said was "how many?" This was because one of the kids she often played with at daycare had triplet one-year-old siblings, two boys and a girl. It had amazed their daughter how someone could get three baby siblings at once. If they happened to get multiples Chloe's parents wouldn't be upset but they just thrilled to be having a baby, period._

_"Some mommies have more than one baby, but mommy's only having one baby," Calleigh told her daughter._

_"Oh," the girl said. "When is da baby going to be here?"_

_Eric smiled at his child's curiosity. She always wanted to know everything._

_"The baby won't be here for a while, princesa. The baby needs time to grow, they're still really, really tiny."_

_Even if the baby was a girl Chloe was always going to be his "princesa." That nickname was hers alone. He'd think of another nickname for a second daughter._

_"Is it a baby budder or siser?" Chloe asked._

_It was Calleigh's turn to laugh._

_"We don't know, yet, sweetpea. The baby's too small for the doctor to know yet. But mommy goes to the doctor in few days and I'll bring you back a picture she took."_

_"She tan do dat?" Chloe said with an amazed expression._

_Both her parents laughed._

_Any jealousy Chloe was going to have wasn't going to really show for months. Right now the baby wasn't competition for her, just something people talked about a lot._

_**Up next...Calleigh & Eric get their first look at their baby.**_


	33. A Long Awaited Experience

_**A Long Awaited Experience**_

Whenever Eric Delko was nervous or excited, he fidgeted. He was fidgeting now waiting for a nurse to call him into the examining room. Calleigh had gone in ahead of him and he was told he would be called in momentarily when everything was set for the ultrasound.

Ironically the nurse now working there worked at Dade-Memorial three years prior. She was the nurse first handed him Chloe. Eric knew the 40-something woman looked familiar.

"Mr. Delko?"

Eric looked up.

"You can come in now."

Delko stood and followed the nurse down the short hall to the examining room.

"How's your little girl?" She asked. "Mommy was showing us some new photos of her. She's a doll. She must be excited."

He smiled.

"She is. She's an awesome kid."

"You two should bring her in sometime. I'm sure she'd like seeing the baby and hearing the heartbeat."

Eric and Calleigh intended to do that at some point, when the baby looked more like a baby.

Knowing about Chloe, inside Calleigh's file the doctor had written _second child, first pregnancy._

Calleigh smiled at her husband from the table. He smiled back at her, he walked over, squeezed her hand and kissed her lips before taking a seat on the stool next to Calleigh's head. Calleigh jumped a little feeling the cold gel on her bare abdomen. The doctor apologized. After several moments of moving the wand around the woman turned screen so the couple could see.

_"There's your baby," she said, pointing to small dot on the screen._

_"Wow," Calleigh breathed._

_"Yeah," Eric whispered._

_Calleigh looked up at Eric and he kissed her lips. There were tears in both their eyes. Deep down Eric had always wished he had got the chance to see his daughter this way but the fact that he didn't, wasn't going to make him feel any less for her once his second child was born. Hearing the unborn child's heartbeat was an equally overwhelming experience. _

_"You okay, hon?" Calleigh asked, seeing he was completely speechless, a tear running down his right cheek._

_"Oh yeah," he whispered._

_The ultrasound determined Calleigh was six weeks pregnant. The technician did a printout of the ultrasound image for both parents, and one for Chloe. _

_"She might want to show that to her little friends," she said._

Back at work both proud parents showed off the image of their baby-to-be.

"So, this is the little one," Natalia said, looking at the image. "Sweet."

"Yeah, the little one that's going to get me whatever I want at any hour for the next eight months," Calleigh smiled.

"Eric's going to love that," Natalia laughed.

"Nice," uncle Horatio said of the image Eric showed him.

"We got to hear the heartbeat, too. It was incredible, H," Eric replied.

"I bet it was, Eric. I bet it was," Horatio said.


	34. A Laugh At Someone Else's Expense

_I know some of you are disappointed that Calleigh & Eric aren't having twins but never fear! Twins will appear! There will be a sequel and these two wouldn't be stopping with two children! I've closed the poll on names for Delko baby boy, but I'm not sure, I may give them a girl yet! You will have to stay tuned! Thanks to the readers who answered my question about story length!_

_**A Laugh At Someone Else's Expense**_

Normally Eric would have felt guilty about having such a laugh at this but it was Jake Berkley so he didn't care if he was laughing. Frank had come into the trace lab laughing that morning.

"What's so funny?" Eric asked.

Frank told him that Alma Shea-Berkley's funeral was the day before. Jake was escorted, handcuffed, still in his prison jumpsuit, by two armed police officers. They were at the funeral just moments when Jake briefly struggled with the officers before he was quickly subdued to and taken to the ground. The two officers, Hanson and O'Miley were two of the bigger, much more muscular officers in the department, both had arms like tree trunks. Eric had occasion to see them at the MDPD basement gym. Eric knew sometimes _he_ could even get a bit too brave, but he would _never_ want to challenge either officer. He imagined Jake quickly regretted this decision to try to get away.

"That had to hurt," Eric chuckled.

"And he's claiming excessive force 'cause his little hands got scrapped up when he fell."

"Hanson or O'Miley didn't have a Scooby Doo band-aid to make it all better? Bad, _bad_ officers," Eric said sarcastically.

Frank said "but what I'm really here for is to look at a picture. You and Calleigh both bought in a picture yesterday and you showed everyone else but me."

"Oh," Eric said, taking the folded piece of paper with the ultrasound image out of his back jeans pocket. "Here. Baby Delko, approximately six weeks, weighing in about half the size of a baby pea."

"Hard to believe that something that size has a heartbeat," Frank said.

Eric had to agree.

Chloe Delko sat on her bed, giving the piece of paper in front of her a hard look. She was having a hard time believing what looked like a a grey and white jelly bean was her baby brother or sister. She was ready for bed and was just waiting for mommy and daddy to come and read her a story.

"What's the matter, sweetpea?" Calleigh asked her daughter when her and Eric entered the child's bedroom.

"Dat don't look like a baby," Chloe said, showing her mother the paper.

"I know it doesn't. But everyone starts out that way," her mother replied, sitting on the side on her daughter's new "princess" bed. It was a white twin bed with a canopy.

"Really?"

Eric laughed.

"Yep. You and everybody in the world."

Chloe was still skeptical but she took her parents' word. So far they were right in everything they told her.


	35. Changes

_**Changes**_

Calleigh sighed. She wasn't quite nine weeks into his pregnancy and some of her clothes starting to feel tight. She knew to expect this. She refused to weigh herself to see if she had gained any weight, she'd save that for the doctor's office. She took one last look at herself in the mirror after brushing her hair and headed to the kitchen for breakfast with Eric and Chloe. Jake's trial had wrapped up the previous day. Jack McCoy had told them that unfortunately he couldn't read whether the jury was on their side and would vote to convict or whether some jurors had bought Jake's 'tear-fulled' performance on the stand; Jake begging Calleigh to forgive him, he was just so upset about losing her. He didn't mean to kill her, he didn't know what he had intended.

Jack warned the Delkos to expect lengthy deliberations. He knew Calleigh was expecting so he hated to tell her this knowing it would naturally put undue stress on her and he wasn't wrong. Calleigh's stomach didn't feel good this morning and she was sure it had little to do with being pregnant.

Calleigh went in to the living room and kissed her daughter's head before going to the kitchen.

Turning to face her mother, she said, "morning, mama. Want some?" offering Calleigh a spoonful of soggy fruit loops.

"No, thank you, honey," she said, smiling at her child's generosity "I'm going to go have breakfast with daddy."

Calleigh shook her head when Eric asked what she wanted for breakfast.

Food didn't sound like a great idea to her as she poured herself a cup of herbal tea. Still Calleigh knew her husband would make her eat something. He had been there when the doctor told her not to skip meals, especially breakfast. Chloe was eating her breakfast in front of television, watching her favorite movie _Cinderella_. Their daughter watched this movie so often that her parents were glad they had a few back-up copies of this DVD, even if they were 'burned' copies, technically illegal ones. The girl was still in her pajamas, her daycare was closed for the week because of the widespread of chickenpox the kids had been getting. Chloe had yet to go through that and nana was coming over to babysit like she had yesterday. Eric put his daughter in front of the tv because he knew he was going to have to struggle with his wife to eat breakfast.

"You have to eat _something, _Cal. Or I'll tell my mom and you know how bad she is," he smiled.

Calleigh nodded, Chlorinda Delko could be thousand times worse than her son when it came to her eating now that she were pregnant. She ended up settling on dry cereal and two slices of toast. The herbal tea helped her stomach some and now she didn't feel like she was going to throw up any second. Both her parents smiled at Chloe's innocence when she came into the kitchen and asked them could get a mouse for her next birthday.

"A _mouse?_ Why do you want a mouse, honey?" Eric asked.

Chloe gave him a look that said "don't you adults know _anything?'_

"'Ause, you put it in da yard and it turns into a horse!" Chloe said, putting her arms out to her sides dramatically.

Calleigh nearly choked on her herbal tea. Both her and Eric laughed out-loud. Chloe could make them smile anytime.


	36. A Domesticated Delko

_**A Domesticated Delko**_

Catherine Willows was on vacation in Miami. Her job as a CSI in Las Vegas was stressful and though tourists viewed the city as a vacation destination when it came to her vacation time, she was going elsewhere. She was in a grocery store picking up basic essentials when noticed someone she recognized at the other end of the aisle.

Eric Delko.

_Eric was a CSI in Miami, she had occasion to work with him and Miami-Dade Crime Lab on a handful of interstate cases. But she wasn't used to seeing this Eric. A domesticated one. There was a little girl with dark hair in the front of the cart. The child was eating a jumbo chocolate chip cookie from the bakery and had crumbs on her face. The two were chatting away, Catherine could plainly hear her calling Eric "papa" She knew Eric didn't have to have gotten married but she hadn't heard he had become a father. The girl looked about three years old, four at the most._

_Eric recognized her as she came up next to him in the aisle._

_"Catherine! Hey. What brings you to town?"_

_The little girl turned her head and looked at Catherine. Catherine was surprised by the child's resemblance to her father._

_"Just vacation. I have two weeks off. Who's this lil' one?" Catherine asked, looking at Chloe. _

_Eric smiled. "This is my daughter, Chloe. Chloe, this is my friend Catherine."_

_"Hi Chloe," Catherine said to the little girl. "How old are you?"Chloe held up three fingers."Wow. You're a big girl, aren't you?"_

_Chloe smiled. Calleigh wasn't with the two in the supermarket. It was Saturday and Eric decided to let her sleep while he and Chloe did the shopping. _

_"You've been up to a lot since the last time I saw you," Catherine said. _

_Eric laughed. "Yeah. You might say. This one came along, Calleigh and I got married and we're expecting another one in 'bout seven months."_

_"Wow. You two have been busy!"_

At home, Calleigh was just getting her breakfast when the doorbell rang.

"Certified mail for Eric or Calleigh Delko," the courier in a forest green uniform said.

Calleigh signed for the envelope, closed the door and walked to the the contents of the envelope after she opened it tears breamed Calleigh's eyes.

_Chloe's adoption papers._

The judge had approved the adoption, providing the three-year-old with a new birth certificate listing Calleigh as the child's and Eric had been married just over three months. They knew she had become pregnant in the two weeks before they got married, maybe even on the four-day trip they spent at Paloma and Gil's cabin. Although a set of papers she couldn't yet read and an amended birth certificate didn't mean a row of beans to Chloe, it meant so much to Calleigh to _finally_ be acknowledged as Chloe's mother. It made her feel secure that if heaven forbid something happened to her husband, she wouldn't lose her first child. Pavel and Chlorinda told Calleigh for three years that neither they _or_ their daughters would try to gain custody of Chloe if something happened to their son. Calleigh was the child's mother, plain and simple.

"Mommy, we're _home!_" Chloe called out as she ran into the living room.

Calleigh smiled as her daughter jumped into her lap.

"Daddy got you a cookie, didn't he?" she said, kissing the child's nose.

Chloe nodded. "A _big _one!" She said. "What's dat?" She said, spotting the papers on the table.

"These are papers mommy got from a judge saying I'm your mommy so everybody knows," Calleigh said.

"Oh," Chloe said.


	37. Little Mermaid in Miami & The Verdict

_I'm combining these two chapters! I'm not done with this story yet, more fluff to come!_

_**The Little Mermaid in Miami**_

Chloe had a new favorite movie, _The Little Mermaid_. Calleigh's aunt Roberta, or Aunt B was visiting again from Louisiana. She was thrilled that her niece and her husband were expecting _and_ that Calleigh's adoption of Chloe was final.

Aunt B had given Chloe the DVD of _The Little Mermaid_ as a gift. It now topped _Cinderella_. Since there was a "Prince Eric" in the movie, she said that was daddy. Ariel, the Mermaid was mommy. Her young, wild imagination didn't stop there. She said Horatio was Sebastian the Crab, Frank was Flounder the Fish, Ryan was Scuttle the Seagull. Ryan made fun of Frank being a Flounder and Frank replied with "at least _I'm _not on the list most _annoying_ creatures, Wolfe. And hey, I _am_ colorful."

When all of them made fun of Horatio being a soft-shelled crab, Horatio said "but I'm an entertaining one!"

However, the most hilarious part was who gained the role of Ursula, the sea witch. That went to none other than Rick Stetler. Chloe didn't like Rick because he always made "mean" faces at her whenever mommy or daddy took her to the lab.

The team roared with laughter hearing this.

"I knew your girl was smart, but I didn't know she was _that_ brilliant," Frank laughed.

"I think the role is quite fitting myself," Eric grinned. "And to top it off, she not only made him a villain but she made him a _woman_."

_**The Verdict**_

The verdict was in. The jury had been out for 25 days. The verdict was read at nine a.m. on the twenty-sixth day at 9:30a.m.. Calleigh wasn't going to miss this, no matter what the verdict was. Eric sat next to her, holding her handing tightly. Her pregnancy was apparent now. She was fourteen weeks along. She and Alexx had been shopping for Calleigh's first purchase of maternity clothes a few days before.

Jake was led to the defendant's table in handcuffs by two deputies he caught sight of Calleigh, instantly noting she was pregnant. Calleigh saw rage flash in his eyes, Jake made deliberate turn and step in Calleigh's direction. It had the desired affect. Calleigh jumped and began to shake. Jake laughed, loudly. Jack McCoy and his assistant Jamie Ross noted this and planned to bring it to the attention of the judge. Eric held Calleigh close to him wanting one chance to punch Jake Berkley's lights out.

Jake Berkley was guilty on all counts, Calleigh's attempted murder and reckless endangerment. The sentencing hearing would begin in three weeks. Eric hoped now that at least with a guilty verdict, he and his family could get on with their lives and enjoy waiting for the birth of a new member of their family.

**_Up Next...The expectant parents find out the gender of their baby!_**


	38. Almost Two Down, Two to Go!

_I posted this chapter at the same time as "for Readers" note. Somehow this didn't go up. I apologize if anything got spoiled for readers!_

_**Almost Two Down, Two to Go!**_

Maybe it was just her but Calleigh never understood exactly why people told couples who had a daughter and a son they had a "set." Maybe it were because most people consider a family with 2 children, a son and daughter to be perfect, complete. Wrong for her and Eric. Call them 'rebels' but they wanted a big family, or bigger one, they wanted four children. Just one day after Jake was found guilty of all charges Calleigh had her second ultrasound. She and Eric gone back and forth and decided to find the gender of their unborn baby.

A boy.

They were both thrilled but they had little time to revel in the joy immediately. The couple had had to wait longer than expected, over an hour to be exact. They had time to give each other an "I love you" kiss and they had to rush back to the lab to work on separate cases. As before they both had prints of the ultrasound, this print had _I'm a boy!_ With an arrow printed on it. They had a copy for Chloe as well but on her print it said printed on the top was _"your little brother."_

"What's all the smiling about?" Natalia asked Calleigh. "Eric's the same way. I just saw him in QD."

"I had another ultrasound," Calleigh said, not being to stop smiling, passing the printout to her co-worker.

"A little boy! Congratulations, Cal. That's great," Natalia said. "You guys must be thrilled."

Calleigh nodded, "yep."

"Dat's my budder?" Chloe said, looking at the print.

Her parents had given it to after dinner that day when they got home. Seeing how their son 'looked like a baby' the two planned to take Chloe to her mother's doctor's appointment next month. It didn't take long for the parents-to-be to name their unborn boy. They already decided or rather Calleigh convinced her husband that their son and him should share the same middle name, Demitri. The short list of first names they had picked out for a boy was quickly narrowed to one, Ethan. Although they didn't 'finalize' that yet or start to referring to the unborn baby by name being they just might came across another they wanted for him before he was born but his middle name was going to be Demitri, regardless of his first name. Knowing it may change, they kept the baby's name a secret, even from Chloe.

"Yep. That's him," Eric said.

"Next time daddy and I go to the doctor, you can come with us, if you want," Calleigh told her daughter.

Neither parent wanted to force Chloe to do this if she didn't want to.

"Yeah!" Chloe said.


	39. Stop It!

_**Stop It!**_

Everyone with the exception of Eric's sister Rachel, Alexx and Horatio, was doing it. And because of what this was doing to Chloe, visibly stressing her and even causing her to lose sleep, even causing her to woke crying at night it was making Eric and Calleigh _very_ angry.

What was this? It was people talking to her only about _one_ thing, the baby. All she ever heard was "what a _big_ girl, you are!" "You're going to have so much fun with your baby brother!" And the one she heard the most and was the most upsetting "you're going to have a big help to mommy and daddy when the baby is born. Babies need a lot of attention." Hearing this so often made it run through her head constantly and made her believe that when the baby was born all she wasn't going to be was a constant "little helper." She would have take care of herself and mommy and daddy won't have time for her.

After mommy and daddy had straightened this out and told her the truth "we're _never _not going to have time to take care of you or spend time with you," Eric told Chloe as she sat in his lap. "We love you too much."

"We know you're not a baby anymore but you're still our little girl and you're _always_ going to be our little girl, no matter how many babies daddy and I have."

Chloe cried her little heart out from all the stress she had been under. Eric cradled his daughter in his arms and kissed her cheeks, whispering soothing words to her in Spanish.

"Do you wanna going to take nap with mommy in our bed?" He asked her.

Chloe nodded.

Leaving his daughter and wife snuggled together in their bed, Eric smiled, relieved to hear Chloe giggling again as her mother tickled her. He left and drove to his parents' home. It was time to set them straight and if required, he wasn't going to be nearly as gentle as he was with his princesa. However, arriving there he found his sister Rachel was already doing so, and she was _pissed._

"For Christ sake, _knock if off! _You got that poor child believing that as soon as that baby comes home all she's going to be a little 'go-for'! She's_ three!_ We're _all_ excited that Calleigh's pregnant but hearing you guys and everyone else _constantly_ talk about how "big" she is, how much attention babies require and how much she's going to have to "help" mommy and daddy is upsetting her so much she 's barely sleeping and she's been waking up crying at night. Do you want her to be afraid of the baby coming home? She doesn't need this!"

_Well,_ Eric thought. _This was a waste of gasoline._

Both Rachel and Alexx knew how not to make a child like that they would be 'replaced' or made into a go-for when a new baby was born because both were mothers of two. Eric didn't know why Horatio wasn't pushing the idea of how "fun" the baby was going to be but somehow both he and Calleigh weren't surprised. They knew how much he loved Chloe and how he hated to see her upset.

Rachel met Eric in the porch. He was guessing by the silence coming from the kitchen, she had left their parents shell-shocked.

"Hey hermanito," she said as Eric gave her a hug.

"Hey," Eric replied. "I came over to set a few ground rules but I think you did it for me. Thanks, sis."

"No problem, hermanito. I've been mad since you told me Chloe wakes up in tears. I had to do something. I couldn't see my niece like that."

Even though it was another line Eric knew he wouldn't cross, Eric couldn't help but think that his parents should have been glad Horatio hadn't come over and set them straight.

_**Translations**_

_Hermanito -_ Little Brother


	40. Why Can't People Just MTOB?

_I rated this chapter M for language, just in case!_

_**MYOB (Mind Your Own Business)**_

Chloe's parents didn't know why some people couldn't just mind their own business. Neither saw a problem with carrying the three-year-old, although Calleigh did it less being now that she were close to twenty weeks pregnant. Even though Chloe was still small, people would tell the couple (and Horatio who seemed to have Chloe in his arms constantly, it was a dotting uncle act) things like "there's nothing wrong with that child! You should make her walk!" Contrary to what these people said, Chloe often _did_ walk. Their girl was a bundle of energy and sometimes her parents had a hard time keeping up with her.

With less 'baby' talk, Chloe was feeling secure again. She was sleeping again and no longer waking up crying. No one was more glad about than her parents. Nana and pop-pop had said "sorry" to her for making her think the baby was going to be more important than her and she liked to see them coming again.

_Mother of god,_ Calleigh thought, feeling somewhat sick to her stomach. She so regretted turning on the _Discovery Health_ Channel. _A Baby Story_ was on. The woman on the episode had decided to have her baby without drugs. "I'm _so_ getting an epidural," she muttered.

Later when Calleigh was giving Chloe her bath Eric saw a different episode of the show. He only saw the first half of the show and was disgusted by the husband on the show. This guy wasn't planning to present at the birth of his child. He gave a variety of what Eric thought were utterly pathetic _excuses_; first he said he wouldn't be able to stand to see his wife in pain. _That certainly would be gut-wrenching but suck it up, man. It ain't about you! _Eric thought. Sure, seeing Calleigh in pain was going to be difficult for Eric but he still wanted to be there more than anything in the world. Then the guy said he was afraid that seeing "all that" would 'ruin' their sex life afterwards _then_ the show had an expert try to validate that. Even with the expert, Eric thought _that's juvenile BS._ And of yes, the topper of them all, his wife was going to have her mother and sister there, her sister also had children. He thought just the three being there minus him would be a 'bonding' experience for the women.

_"Oh that's rich! For fuck sakes', grow a set of balls, man!"_ Eric said to the t.v..

He didn't realize his daughter may have heard him. Calleigh and Chloe were just coming out of the bathroom, Chloe holding her mother's hand, wearing her yellow duck bath poncho. Knowing Chloe's tendency to repeat phases she heard but _hoping_ she didn't heard _that_ one, Calleigh called out to Eric in a warning tone "_Language,_ dear!" as she and the toddler passed the doorway.

"Sorry, querida," he called back, grinning.

**_Translations_**

Querida - beloved


	41. The Cheeto Puff Case

_**The Cheeto Puff Case (or Chloe helps Out)**_

Both Calleigh and Eric were working late today so their daughter was at the lab. At the moment she was sitting on breakroom sofa eating a bag of cheeto puffs and watching _Lady & the Tramp_ on the portable DVD player Horatio got for her.

"Our burglar had some kind of bright orange powder on his fingers. It came off on the inside of his gloves. I can't tell what it is, though," Natalia said.

"It's cheesy puff dust," Ryan said.

"How can you be sure?"

"Give me a few minutes and I'll prove it," Ryan said, heading out of the lab, grabbing a plastic evidence bag off the shelf on the way.

"You know the machine is out of cheese puffs," Natalia called after him.

Ryan headed to the breakroom. He walked over to Chloe, kneeling down in front of her with a smile.

"Hi," he said to her.

"Hi 'Yan," Chloe said.

"How would _you_ like to help me solve a case?" He asked her.

"Otay. What do I do?"

"All I need from _you_, is this bag," he said, pointing to her cheese puffs "and one," he said holding up one finger, "one cheesie puff. You can put your cheesies in this bag."

"Otay," Chloe said, handing Ryan the bag and he emptied the contents into the clear bag.

"Thank you, Chloe," Ryan said.

Back in the lab several minutes later Calleigh walked in.

"Ryan, can you explain to me why my daughter is eating cheese puffs from an evidence bag?"

Ryan blushed.

"Sorry, Cal. But I needed the bag, and a cheese puff, to prove that's what's inside these gloves. I told she's helping me solve the case."

"She told me that. You're going to end up buying her ice cream if you're right."

Mommy and daddy knew Chloe was getting a cold. She had been coughing, sneezing and had a runny nose all the past day. Her parents and Horatio went to the breakroom to check on her periodically. By 7:45pm Chloe was falling asleep but neither of her parents could leave for another hour and a half. Horatio told both of them that he was putting Chloe in his office so she could sleep in the couch. He put a pillow there and covered the girl with a small fleece blanket. He felt her forehead, she was warm.

Eric had told his boss that there was children's cold medication in his daughter's backpack if Chloe had a temperature. Horatio gently woke the little girl and she took the strawberry-flavored liquid without protest and promptly started to fall back to sleep.

"Go back to sleep, honey," he said softly to the child, kissing her forehead. "Uncle Horatio will be right here." Horatio turned off the room light and he did paperwork by the lamp at his desk.

"Thanks, Horatio," Eric said when Calleigh was getting Chloe ready to leave to go home.

"No problem at all, Eric. I'm sorry I had to keep you guys here. Hope peanut feels better."

_**Up next:** Jake's sentencing hearing & his troubles beyond that!_


	42. The Sentencing Hearing

_**The Sentencing Hearing**_

Today was the day. Jake Berkley would receive his sentence. A court-appointed psychiatrist testified that he had examined the defendant for a total twelve hours over four days. He described Jake as a psychopath with a narcissistic personality. He had no regard for the effect his actions had on others. He openly stated he had no remorse for what he had done to Calleigh and her family. In fact, Jake still roared with laughter when he recounted to the psychiatrist how Calleigh had jumped and began to shake when he made a threatening motion in her direction on the day he was convicted.

Jake's defense attorney had nothing to offer to dispute the prosecution. Jake was a very difficult client who barely listened to his lawyer's advice during the trial and who had completely ceased listening to legal advice after the verdict. Jake had however decided he wanted to make a statement on his own behalf before the judge pronounced sentence. Again, his lawyer had advised him _not_ to say anything like this but Jake didn't listen.

"I may be convicted, your honor," he said. "But I am _not_ a guilty man. The two guilty parties are not in this courtroom. Eric Delko and Calleigh _Duquesne_," he said, emphasizing Calleigh's former name, "knew how I felt and brought this on themselves—"

"_Stop right there!_" The judge ordered. "_I will not allow_ such a statement to be made in my courtroom. If that's all you have, Mr. Berkley, I will pronounce sentence."

Jake immediately shut his mouth.

Horatio and Frank were present to hear the sentence; Calleigh and Eric had scheduled a doctor's appointment for that day, it was their 24 week ultrasound. Jake was sentenced to a total of twenty years imprisonment. Five years for reckless endangerment and fifteen years for attempted murder with no chance of parole on either sentence.

"It pains me that this is the stiffest sentence I can impose," the judge stated. "Court adjourned."

Jake was having other legal troubles as well. Jake had secretly taken photos of Chloe Delko in the outdoor playground of her daycare. Other children appeared in these photos. The parents of these children were now suing Jake for violating their children's privacy. Jake had inherited a "substantial" amount of money upon Alma Shea-Berkley's death but stood to lose all of it if they won.

Jake's civil attorney tried to get the suit dismissed by telling the judge the parents should be suing the Delkos, not Jake. _The couple had put this event in motion,_ he argued. _it wasn't Mr.Berkley's intention to violoate the privacy of any of the other child. His intentions were only to photograph Chloe Delko. He apologizes for upsetting the other families._

The parents' lawyer stated that this notion was "absurd." The Delkos were not Jake's accomplices but his victims. The judge sided with the parents and allows the lawsuit to proceed.


	43. But I HATE Vegetables!

_**But I Hate Vegetables!**_

Eric knew his wife was going to get an earful from her doctor today. He was happy to hear their unborn son was healthy and "a good size." But Lately Calleigh's foods of choice, hot dogs, ice cream, fries and pizza with onions, mushrooms and Italian sausage, in large quantities, weren't the healthiest, especially for an expectant mother. Calleigh had pretty much always hated vegetables, green ones being at the top of that list. Eric, along with help from Alexx, had been trying to get eat healthier without much luck. Eric had told on his wife about her new tastes to the physician.

"_Snitch_," Calleigh said to her husband. Calleigh sighed as the doctor started in on the lecture that the ballistics expect knew she would.

"And by the way," she said "I didn't need your husband to tell on you; your blood tests show you're not eating nearly enough protein. You need to eat a lot more vegetables, especially green ones."

Eric found it was easier to get _Chloe_ to eat vegetables lately, certain ones anyway. The three and a half year old actually liked some; she would eat baby carrots and cucumber slices, as long they were raw with no dressing. She liked Chinese cabbage because it was purple. The little girl had liked green peas as long as he could remember. But when it came to the subject of _broccoli,_ allegedly the most nutritious veggie, which Eric admitted he seldom ate because "it tasted too green," _sometimes_ he could get Chloe to eat it as long as it was covered in cheese-whiz. No one in their little family would go near a brussel sprout. Calleigh and Eric had to agree with their child that she didn't like the way they looked. In a supreme rarity the two even sided with Chloe when Eric's mother tried to get her eat them.

"Broccoli is the best thing for you to eat. Try eating it your daughter's way; it might help," the doctor said.

_Hardy-har-har,_ Calleigh thought.

"Did you forget that I can easily shot you?" She said to Eric in the car.

"No, my love, I didn't," Eric said with grin. "But the thing is, right now, you couldn't move the body."

ECEECECECECECECEECEC

"You think you're _so_ great, don't you? _Well, you're not! You're ugly!_ And I don't like you! I bet my baby doesn't like you, either. People talk about how wonderful you are but not even the that smooth blanket can hide the fact you're disgusting."

Yep. Calleigh was talking to the three large pieces of broccoli covered in Cheez-whiz. As much as she loathed the food in front of her, Calleigh knew her doctor was right and she absolutely wanted her son to be born healthy and there were things she knew she had to do even if she didn't like it. She had returned from the doctor's office a short time before. She decided to start small with the three pieces of broccoli, with cheez-whiz. It was the time she usually ate a snack anyway and she was getting hungry, but not nearly hungry enough to readily eat the green vegetable in front of her.

Eric smiled, walking into the kitchen, he went over to his wife and kissed the top of her head. He was amused hearing talk to her food. He had just got off the phone with Horatio who had called him with Jake's sentence.

Calleigh smiled feeling her husband's touch.

"Hey," she said. "Was that Horatio on the phone?"

"Yeah. Twenty years, no parole, babe."

Calleigh rose and wrapped her arms around Eric, burying her face in his shoulder. It was finally over; she hoped it wasn't a dream she was going to wake up from.


	44. Unforgettable Moments

_**Unforgettable Moments**_

Neither would forget the time they kissed.

_It was the evening after Eric had taken his daughter to the lab. Eric had fallen asleep on the couch, listening to Calleigh coo over his daughter, the exhaustion of being awake most the previous night and day with the newborn overtaking him._

_Calleigh put the now sleeping baby girl down in the bassinet in Eric's bedroom after she had fed and burped her. When she re-entered the living room where her co-worker was asleep on the couch he woke up. The two smiled at each other as Eric sat up. Calleigh walked over to the couch, sat down next to him and caressed the Cuban's cheek_._ Their eyes met and nothing needed to be said aloud as their lips met in a passionate yet tender kiss._

_"I love you, Calleigh," Eric whispered as their kiss ended. Swallowing hard, fearing rejection to the next thing he had to say Eric said "I have from the moment I saw you."_

_"I love you, too, Eric," Calleigh whispered back, touching his lips. "I want to be with you."_

_Those words were music to Eric's ears._

Sighing happily, rubbing Calleigh's six month pregnant belly as she slept when he thought back at their first kiss Eric couldn't believe the two were where they were today. He had always wanted a family but things really only came into perspective after he nearly died after getting shot in the head on the orders of Clavo Cruz. A year after the shooting, Melissa Jakobs had walked into the lab, three weeks after that his whole world changed and now every dream he had seemed to be coming true.

Eric smiled, feeling the form of his son kick underneath his palm.

"Hey, buddy," he said, gently kissing the flesh of Calleigh's abdomen. "It's late. You're not supposed to be awake."

"Daddy?"

A small voice jerked Eric from his thoughts. Chloe was standing in the doorway. Eric looked at the alarm clock on the night table. It was 1:00am.

"Chloe. What's the matter, sweetheart? I thought you were asleep," he said getting out of bed.

"I have to go potty. The light is not on," the little girl said.

Chloe was quite independent. She could take herself to the bathroom, even in the middle of the night as long the light was left on. Most of the time they remembered to do that.

"Oh. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'll get that for you."

Eric waited outside the bathroom door, hearing the toilet flush and the water running for Chloe washing her hands. When she opened the door he took her hand.

"Can daddy tuck you back in?"

Chloe nodded, yawning.

Eric picked her up and carried her back to her bedroom. He carefully laid her back on the bed, put the covers over her.

"Good night, princesa. Daddy loves you," he whispered to her.


	45. Making Mommy Feel Better

_**Making Mommy Feel Better**_

Calleigh sighed. It was one of those days that being six months pregnant was no fun. Starting next week she was on desk duty, no more ballistics lab. She was going to start maternity leave in a month. She was looking forward to that. Chloe still seemed to be adjusting to the idea of she was going to be a big sister soon. The first time she felt the baby underneath her hand she was amazed.

Today Chloe made her mommy feel better when she was having a bad day. Ryan and Tripp had arrested a couple who had beat the man's four-year-old son to death. The man seemed indifferent to his son's death and was supporting his wife, even though she openly admitted she killed the boy. Both were being charged with murder. The boy had still been alive when the father arrived home that day. Yet the man refused to the child to the E.R. even when the boy begged him to. The father, if you could stomach calling him that, Calleigh thought, was standing by his wife, defending her actions. Calleigh and Eric watched from outside the glass as Tripp conduct the interrogation. Eric had determined from the blood pattern that the boy had lived and moved around his room for some time before he succumbed to the injuries from the beating. Calleigh determined that the murder weapon was a souvenir aluminum baseball bat the father owned. The father thought he haw washed off all the blood but several tiny specks left on the bat gave him up.

The man, Harold Hobbs defended his wife, Caroline, by saying the boy who was named Colin, didn't fit in to the family now his wife and he had a six-month-old baby together. The boy was killed because he accidentally scratched his baby brother's face when he was a little rough when playing with him. The boy's natural mother, the man's late wife died when the boy was week old. The man had remarried when the boy was two years old. The boy looked like his biological mother, who was Chinese. So the boy "now stuck out" in a family were the two parents and new baby had blonde hair and blue eyes, Harold Hobbs said. After he and his wife had their baby he said started to love the boy less daily. He was like a fourth wheel. The boy was jealous of their new baby and acted out constantly, Harold alleged.

_"I'm sorry he's dead. I guess," he said. "But when after Max came along, Colin was just a kid living in our house we were responsible for. He should have known better than to stretch our baby."_

The child's stepmother said nothing beyond the fact she was "relieved" she no longer to act like a loving parent to a child she hated.

Watching this man and now his wife, both the couple had felt sick. Eric watched as his wife swallowed hard and rubbed her extended belly. He touched her shoulder, knowing all she could think about was her deep, unconditional love for Chloe. He wasn't at all surprised when she left the lab during her lunch break to visit Chloe. Mommy needed a hug, and from Chloe.

Chloe had just finished eating her lunch when she was told her mother was there to visit her.

"Hi mom!" She said, running to Calleigh when she saw her. "What are you doing here?"

Calleigh hugged her daughter tightly, inhaling the sweet scent of the child.

"Mommy's not having a good day. She needed a hug. You know mommy loves you," She said to Chloe.

"I know, Mommy," Chloe replied, like Calleigh just told her the sky was blue. Of course her mommy loved her. "You told me dat dis morning."

"Chloe make you feel better?" Eric asked his wife when she got back to the lab.

"As always," Calleigh smiled.


	46. Initials

_I skipped ahead a month to the beginning of Calleigh's maternity leave!__** This chapter is rated M for sexual content!**_

_**Initials and what they can stand for**_

While Calleigh was on maternity leave she and Eric decided that for the first three months their second baby was home Chloe would be home full-time as well. After that she would only be in daycare two half days a week. They thought it was important for Chloe to maintain contact with the kids at her daycare but it was more important for her to be at home with her mom and baby brother for the first year especially when mom would at home for a year. Till the baby was born, Chloe was going to stay in daycare full-time even though Calleigh was now officially on maternity leave. She was thirty weeks pregnant. One of the night shift personnel was in her position during her leave.

"So, Delko, the baby countdown is on, huh?" A/V technician Tyler Wilson said when the dad-to-be entered the room.

"Yeah," Eric said with a smile.

With approximately ten weeks left in the pregnancy it was still safe for the couple to make love—and they didn't need encouragement to do so.

_Calleigh had now been on maternity leave for two weeks. It was Friday night and Chloe was at a "seep over" at uncle Horatio's. Calleigh and Eric were dozing in bed; Eric was in his boxers and Calleigh wore a short silk_ _maternity nightie with spaghetti straps. The Cialis commercial came on._

_Eric looked at his wife, "Great. The initials we picked for our son stand for erectile dysfunction," he muttered to her. "Can we do that to him?"_

_Calleigh smiled. "So do yours," she said, slowly snaking her hand down under her husband's black boxers. "But that does mean you have it, __you__ certainly don't," she said, squeezing his package._

_"Cal," Eric growled next to her earlobe, his erection growing. "You know what you're doing to me."_

_"What am I doing?" She said innocently._

_"You asked for it, __woman__," he said, pinning his wife's head to the pillow, kissing her passionately. With his right hand he ran his hand up her thigh and then pulled off her panties. His hand then went up her nightie, groping her swollen breasts and stroking the side of her pregnant belly. Moments later he straddled her, entering her slowly but quickly sending her into screams of ecstasy._


	47. The Morning After

_**The Morning After**_

Not only had uncle Horatio wanted Chloe to come for the night so the two could have some time together, he did it so that her mommy and daddy could have sex and not worry about getting "caught."

"Have fun last night?" Horatio asked Eric grinning, when he bought Chloe home at eleven o'clock.

"Worth waitin' a week for," Eric replied laughing.

After Horatio left Chloe told mommy that after she and Horatio ate breakfast together they "feed the duckies breakfast" at the pond on the back of Horatio's property.

Neither Calleigh or Eric knew uncle Horatio was now planning major remodeling on his home. He was planning to have a piece built onto the house, adding two extra bedrooms, for little guests. Just a week ago they had asked Horatio to be the godfather the of their expected baby. He had accepted. He planning to put a twin bed and a crib in one of the spare rooms for when Chloe _and_ her little brother stayed at his home.

The spare room he already had was small and he used it as it as a home office. He wasn't sure what he would use the second spare room for yet. When his two co-workers found what he was doing a few days later they thought it was a sweet gesture, such an obvious sign he adored his godchildren. Even though the couple's son was yet to be born, Calleigh and Eric could certainly see he and Chloe staying with uncle Horatio for a night, after a few months of course. Chloe started having sleep overs with her uncle when she was just six-months-old. Horatio was using the same crib for Ethan that he had for Chloe. Only when Chloe used the crib because of the lack of a spare room the crib had been set up in the living room and Horatio would stay on the couch. However, by the time Chloe was six months old and she could sit up in her crib she'd stare at Horatio with her big brown eyes when Horatio put her there for the night, he totally caved. Dismantled the crib and started letting Chloe sleep in his bed with him.

_Eric had laughed when Horatio had told him that._

_As much as it was difficult to do, Chloe's mom and dad had stuck it out and made sure from Chloe's first night home that she slept in her bassinet, then in her crib._

_"She got to ya, huh, H? It was the eyes, wasn't it?"_

_Horatio smiled sheepishly._ _"I asked her not to do it but she just kept staring at me. I even said 'please.' But She broke me in less than five minutes. She didn't even have to turn on the tears or put her arms up. She's good."_

"_Hey. Uncles are allowed to cave. Mom and dad have to be the mean ones," Eric said._

"_The trick is avoid eye contact." _

_He remembered when he and Calleigh were starting to teach Chloe to put herself to sleep. It was torture for both of them. They hated to hear her cry. One of them would stay in the room till she fell asleep, assuring her they were there and everything was okay when she cried but they could __not__ pick her up. That was the hardest part, knowing that if they just picked her up Chloe's tears would stop. Because he was a man Eric found hard to admit that when he was in the room with his daughter he couldn't look at her face because he would definitely give in and pick her, Calleigh was the same. Both knew there was no use of Horatio trying this technique; he was a marshmallow when it came to Chloe._

_Even at six months old Chloe seemed to realize that "Mommy Calleigh" or daddy would stay in the room but she had to put herself to sleep but when she was with uncle H, she fell asleep in his arms, either on the couch or in the rocking chair._

By the time Eric's baby daughter were six months old Calleigh hadn't moved in to Eric and Chloe's place yet but by now if either one slipped and referred to Calleigh as "mommy" not "mommy Calleigh" to Chloe neither cared because she _was_ mommy to the baby.


	48. So Excited

_I'm fast-forwarding this story six weeks....Enjoy!_

_**So Excited**_

Thirty-six weeks today. The Delkos' baby boy was due any time now. Calleigh and Eric were still sure they were going to name him Ethan but knowing they could change their minds when they met their son if he "didn't look like an Ethan." they didn't make that decision final. Being so pregnant naturally made Calleigh more irritable and quicker to snap at people. Alexx told her it was completely normal for her to have a shorter fuse right now. The mother of two smiled when Calleigh told her she wasn't making herself feel bad about her short fuse but she was really trying to make sure if she did snap at anyone, it was Eric or some other adult, not Chloe.

Chloe was her mom's little entertainer right now. The three-year-old only went to daycare in the mornings now. Daddy got her dressed in the morning and dropped her off. Nana picked her up afterwards and then stayed with her and mommy so mommy could relax and not have to cook and do housework.

Calleigh was just waking up from a mid-afternoon nap and she saw her little girl standing in her doorway, her bare feet sticking out of her jeans, holding the book _Green Eggs and Ham_ in her hands. Chloe didn't want to 'bother' mommy. She asked mommy when daddy was getting home.

"I don't know, baby," Calleigh said. She knew the child was asking that because her grandmother had told her not to "bother mommy" and Chloe didn't like it when her grandmother read to her. "But can mama read you your book?"

Chloe's face lit up. "Otay!" she said, excitedly climbing onto the bed and hugging into Calleigh's side.

Calleigh was not at all happy that her mother-in-law had been trying to keep Chloe from her, even if she did mean well. She was definitely going to have Eric speak to his mother. Calleigh smiled and kissed her daughter.

"I'll talk to nana. Anytime you want to see mommy, you come get me, all right?"

Chloe nodded.

However before Eric could say anything to his mother, his father did when he came over unannounced and found his granddaughter upset. When Pavel asked Chloe what was wrong the little girl said that _Elmo's World_ was on and she wanted to watch it with mommy but Nana wouldn't let her in the room. Pavel had told the child to ignore what his wife had said and go and see Calleigh.

"I know you're taking time of your life to help them out but this is still _their_ house. Calleigh is still taking it easy, she _wants_ time with Chloe, it's not like Chloe's being loud and rambunctious, getting Calleigh's blood pressure up. And Frankly now the time's for Chloe to get all of the individual attention from Calleigh. Pretty soon that's going to be limited."

That was true. Mother and child either read books together, colored (and Chloe told her mom stories about the pictures that she made up herself) or tv or DVDs together.

Eric knew his mother was going to lecture him for spending money on something like Chinese take-out the baby's arrival being so close. It was going to go in one ear and out of the other. This was _his_ home and he wasn't five-years-old. Chinese was a family favorite, they hadn't had it in weeks and Chloe deserved a treat after grandma tried to keep her from mommy. The girl had surprised her parents at the tender age of 20 months by showing a taste for chicken fried rice, chicken balls and won tons, without sauce. She still liked the dish.

"Whatever, ma," he said, when she began lecturing him. Eric was more mad about Chlordina telling his child that she couldn't be with her mother. "Did dad talk to you? Chloe can be with Calleigh _whenever _and _however_ much she likes. I appreciate your help but I don't you _ever_ telling Chloe "not to bother" Calleigh again."


	49. The Park

_**The Park and Pizza Grill Cheese with Papi**_

Eric was glad to wake up with hay fever two days later. He couldn't go to the lab like that, even if he had taken a Claritin tablet. But if he did take some Claritin, he would stop sneezing, his nose would stop running, his eyes would dry up and he could take his little girl to the park, let her burn of some of her energy and most important, get some quality time with daddy. Getting out of the house would be good for Chloe as well. Daddy decided it made more sense to give Chloe a bath when they got back from the park then before since she was her father's daughter and liked to get dirty. Alexx was coming over for a while that to have some "girl time" with her friend. He knew Calleigh would enjoy that.

_At the playground Eric was reminded that a dad out with his child was a total "chick magnet." The two weren't there ten minutes when a woman had come up to Eric when Chloe was on the slide and said "she's so adorable. She must enjoy her time with daddy."_

_Eric smiled and lowered his head for a brief second. This was so an "ask me and my number is yours" line in disguise. He'd dropped enough of them in his ladies' man days. Hearing the line come from someone else, he couldn't believe how __pathetic__ it sounded. _

_"She does," he replied. "She enjoys it when my wife takes her here, too."_

_That sent the woman in the other direction fast._

Before they headed home the two went to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for pizza grill cheese, for Chloe that was ham and pepperoni. Eric called home to see if his wife wanted anything but Alexx had bought over gumbo so the answer was no. Neither Eric or Chloe had acquired a taste for the dish. In fact nobody could get Chloe to touch any seafood, not even frozen fish sticks. Kids usually liked those. Chloe insisted that anything fish smelled and couldn't be convinced otherwise by anyone, not even _Elmo_. When Chloe's doctor told them that they really should get the child to eat some fish and the parents told her how girl absolutely wouldn't the woman had suggested that a child get a letter from her favorite puppet. They tried that; Chloe's expression said "so what?" and her only reply was "If he likes it, Elmo can eat my fish, too!"

The parents knew the letter idea wasn't going to go anywhere with their three-year-old. She wasn't kind of child who would do something just because someone else did it.


	50. Fatherhood Fits

_**Fatherhood Fits**_

"You ever think that Eric or Calleigh would venture into parenthood?" Maxine Valera asked Tim.

"Venture into?" Tim said. "That's an odd way of putting it. I'm not sure 'bout Calleigh but it doesn't surprise me about Eric."

Tim had transferred back to the day shift a week before. The two watched through the large glass window at Eric walking up the hall, Chloe on his hip. The girl didn't look well at all. Alexx wasn't busy so Eric was going to get her to take look at Chloe to see if she thought the child had to see her pediatrician for any medication.

Chloe had thrown up at daycare and was complaining of nausea, dizziness and said her left ear hurt. Eric was pretty sure this meant an ear infection.

"Can Aunt Alexx take a look in your ear, sugar?" Alexx asked Chloe after Eric sat her down on the metal table.

Chloe frowned, shook her head and covered her ear.

"I'll be really fast," Alexx said, "you know I wouldn't hurt you."

Chloe then agreed.

"Is your tummy all right now? Do you feel like you might throw up again?" Alexx asked Chloe when she was done.

Chloe shook her head. "I'm thirsty," she said. Her attention went to the doorway and the three saw Horatio walk in.

"I heard someone's not feeling very good," he said, coming over to Chloe.

Both Eric and Alexx were silently counting the minutes till Horatio showed up. Six minutes.

"Why don't you go with Horatio and he'll get you some water while I talk to daddy?" Alexx said to Chloe.

Alexx certainly didn't need to tell Horatio he should carry Chloe instead of having her walk because she was dizzy. He would have carried the girl regardless. Because in recent days Chloe had associated her pediatrician with shots being the last time she were there she had two Alexx figured the mention of the other woman might upset her. That was why she sent Chloe out of the room with Horatio.

"You're right. She's definitely got an ear infection. She's running a bit of a fever, too. I have some children's tylenol you can give right now so she'll feel a tiny bit better quickly. You should take her to the doctor some time today. It's not urgent but the sooner the better.

"But first, you should assure her is that you can promise there's going to be _no_ needles this time. Then tell her she's just going to get some medicine, it will be painless."

"Thanks, Alexx," Eric said as she handed him a chewable children's tylenol.

Chloe was sitting in Horatio's lap in his office when Eric came in.

"Here you go, princesa. This will help your ear not hurt so much," he said, giving her the bubblegum-flavored pink pill. "Drink plenty of water. Good girl."

Chloe didn't find the doctor's office so bad this time. Eric took her there right after work. She had stayed at the lab for two hours, asleep in her godfather's arms before her dad got off work. The doctor assured that there was no needles. She gave Chloe some ear drops. The three-year-old was pleased to get a lollipop as well. Still she wanted mommy, being sick and not seeing her since that morning.

"Quiero mami, papi," she said.

"Sé, princesa. Estamos yendo a casa," he said, kissing her forehead as fastened her seatbelt.

_**Translations**_

_Quiero Mami, Papi. - I want mommy, daddy._

_S__é__, princesa. Estamos yendo a casa. - Yes, Princess. We're going home._

_**Translations come directly from Babelfish. I'm not just how correct they are sometimes so fell free to let me know!**_


	51. Cuddles

_**Cuddles**_

Calleigh's OB/GYN was in the building as their child's pediatrician. Calleigh had a routine appointment there that day, no ultrasound. Everything was fine. There were no signs labor yet. The physician thought Calleigh wouldn't give birth for another three weeks. She had missed her husband and little girl by fifteen minutes. She was waiting for them on the living room sofa when they came in. Eric passed Chloe to his wife's waiting arms. Calleigh rubbed her child's back as Chloe wrapped her arms around her mother and nuzzled into the side of her neck.

_"Mama's here, sweetpea. You'll feel better soon. Daddy's going to give you your medicine and you'll stay in mom's arms till you go to sleep, all right?"_

_Calleigh hated seeing her child sick and she loved to cuddle with her. Chloe nodded, hugging her mom's neck._

_Eric gave Chloe her eardrops and then some more tylenol. He tucked the little girl into bed with his wife. He would put her in her own bed after she fell asleep. That wasn't very long. Chloe was in a deep sleep within minutes. _

_"How'd it go today?" Eric asked, climbing into bed with his wife._

_Calleigh cuddled into him and he squeezed her shoulders. He put his other palm on her round abdomen._

_"Everything's great," Calleigh smiled. "But she thinks he's gonna make us wait another three weeks."_

_Eric smiled, leaning down and kissing his wife's belly._

_"Daddy loves you very much, little guy. I can't wait to hold you."_

Nowadays, Eric couldn't imagine how he lived without being a father and husband. There was no feeling in the world like coming home to a family. He was glad for his "playboy" days for one reason: Chloe. As much as he found Melissa Jakobs to be a despicable person he would have never taken back the night with her that conceived Chloe. No matter what anyone said, Melissa may have given Chloe half her DNA and given birth to her but she was _not_ Chloe's mother. She never had been. For the first four days of her life, Chloe only had a daddy. From four days old on, she had a daddy _and_ a mommy. And mommy wasn't named Melissa.

_Tonight wasn't about sex for the expectant parents. Both just wanted to cuddle. Calleigh wrapped her arm around Eric's waist and gave him a squeeze. _

_"I love you," she whispered._

_Eric smiled and kissed his wife. "I love you more."_

_**Up next: The long wait is over! Eric and Calleigh's baby arrives!**_


	52. Ryan Wolfe, Babysitter

_**Ryan Wolfe: Babysitter**_

The family didn't have to wait three weeks, only one. The time for getting a late-night babysitter was bad. Horatio was working a scene and couldn't leave. Eric's sister's Paloma's house was almost a half hour away, too far to drive Chloe. Rachel's boys had the chicken pox so Chloe couldn't go there. Chloe hadn't had chicken pox and if she were exposed to it right now she couldn't be around her newborn brother when he came home. That was not an option. Chlordina and Pavel were in Arizona for the week. It was a trip they had won, and had to take now. Ryan had worked a triple shift and was home. Eric hoped Ryan wouldn't refuse to help when he called. Ryan has been asleep for two hours when the phone rang.

"Wolfe," he answered sleepily.

_This better be good,_ he thought.

"Ryan, it's Delko. Hmm. I need your help."

"Whadda ya need?" Ryan asked, yawning.

He would have made a smart comment if this still had been Eric's player days.

"I'll be right over," Ryan said, beginning to dress while still on the phone.

Ryan wasn't comfortable at the thought of looking after a 4-year-old but he couldn't deny he enjoyed being around Chloe. And four-years-old wasn't exactly a baby.

Eric didn't bother to wake Chloe to tell her they were leaving for the hospital. It was apparent to Ryan that Calleigh was in pain the moment he entered the Delko's home. The only thing Eric told Ryan was that Chloe was usually awake by seven or so. It was 4:20.

"No problem," Ryan said, fanning confidence. He was more nervous about being left alone to care for a girl who was two months away from her fourth birthday than he thought.

Chloe woke up at 7:30. As usual she went to her parents' room. The bed was unmade but neither one was there, she didn't hear the shower, either. But she heard the t.v. on and thought mom might be out there.

"Wyan!" Chloe said, surprised to see her parents' co-worker asleep on the sofa.

"Hi Chloe," Ryan said with a smile, sitting up. "Good morning."

"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked.

"Come over here," Ryan said, patting the spot on the sofa next to him.

Chloe climbed onto the sofa.

"Daddy called me a few hours ago. He didn't want to wake you. Mommy's gone to the hospital to have your brother. I'm going to look after you for a little bit."

Ryan's nerves were still bad, subsiding at a snail's pace, but he saw how independent Chloe was. She was very verbal and she would tell him her wants and needs. That put the CSI who had no child care experience, more at ease. He never doubted the girl could feed herself, or that he could entertain her, his anxiety centered around getting her dressed. Breakfast was easy. Chloe pointed out where her cereal was kept and told him when to stop when he put enough in the bowl. She told him to turn the toaster half way up because she liked her toast crunchy and with lots of Cheez-whiz. Her chocolate milk was in the frig.

_Shake it off, Wolfe_, Ryan said to himself. _She's nothing to be afraid of. Christ, she even __likes__ you!_

His last worry proved to be unfounded as well. Chloe dressed herself every morning. She only needed help brushing her hair and getting a t-shirt from her closet because she couldn't reach them.

"I can do that," Ryan said when Chloe asked him to lift her to get one. He could certainly handle that and brushing hair. All he had to do for Chloe after she finished eating was put a stool in front of the sink so she could brush her teeth and wash her face.

The message had got around the lab about Calleigh being in labor. As soon as he finished processing at the lab Horatio planned to go Eric's and relieve Ryan. Chloe was a good kid but she was a ball of energy. One needed more than two hours of sleep to keep up with her. He arrived at the home at 10:30.

_11:45am. Dade Memorial Hospital...._

"He's beautiful, Eric," Calleigh whispered, gazing at the newborn nursing at her breast.

Eric smiled. "He is," the new father's eyes were still wet with happy tears. "You did great, Cal," he whispered, kissing his wife.

It was the most, worst pain she had ever felt in her life but Calleigh had managed to have her baby without drugs like she wanted. Moments later, when he got his voice back, when his new son, Ethan was still crying in the background Eric called home. He was surprised to hear Horatio's voice.

"H? When'd you get there?"

"About an hour ago," Horatio said with a smile. He heard the sound in the background.

"Well, I can't hold back anymore and I guess you can hear the sound in the room I'm in. We have a new family member. Ethan Demitri. He's nine pounds, three ounces."

"That's wonderful, Eric," Horatio said, and he meant it. "Ethan and Calleigh are doing okay?"

"They're perfect."

Chloe squealed when her dad told her she had a new baby brother named Ethan.

"Daddy's going to come and get you soon. You can meet him."

Horatio promised he would have the little girl ready to go.


	53. First Meeting

_**First Meeting**_

A part of Calleigh was still glad she had given birth without drugs, she had made that decision because she had done her research and saw many woman had back problems from it afterwards, still if, or more like when she and Eric did this again, Calleigh would be rethinking this, potential back problems or not. By the time the pain was too much this time it was too late for an epidural. As soon as she was settled away with Ethan and her husband in a private room and all the staff went away Calleigh found herself wanting to see her daughter. She had two children and wanted to be all her family. Eric was going to leave the hospital and pick Chloe up shortly. He had taken their doctor's suggestion and packed a change of clothes for himself. Eric planned to leave as soon as he freshened up.

"Let's go, daddy!" Chloe said, jumping up and down when Eric got to the house.

Eric smiled at the little girl's excitement. She had jumped into his arms the moment he stepped through the door. He smiled and hugged her, kissing her cheek.

"Daddy loves you, princesa," he whispered. "Mommy and daddy _missed_ you. We'll go in a minute. Look," he said, showing her an image on his camera phone. "That's Ethan. He looks a lot like you did when you were a baby."

In fact, Ethan was practically identical to his sister when she was a newborn.

Eric showed the phone to Horatio.

"There's your new godson," he said, smiling.

Horatio smiled.

"He's very cute, Eric. Can't wait to meet him."

Eric definitely had strong genes, Horatio had thought. _Both_ Ethan and Chloe looked strikingly like their father.

"Mommy can't wait for you to meet your sister," Calleigh said to the newborn in her arms. "She's precious. Daddy's gone to bring her in now. I didn't carry her like I did you but she's mine, too."

Chloe looked shyly at the newborn in Calleigh's arms. She leaned over a little from her perch in her father's arms. Both her parents smiled. Eric placed his daughter on the bed next to his wife so she could have a closer look at the baby. Chloe gingerly touched Ethan's forehead with her fingertips.

"He's tiny," she said.

"He is," Calleigh replied, kissing her daughter's brow.

Eric was anxious to get his wife and little boy home. The doctor had given both of them a clean bill of health and said the two could go home the next day. Calleigh was just as anxious to get home and be with her children.


	54. Home

_**Home**_

_"Ready to go, Mijito?" Eric said, strapping the newborn into the infant carrier, adjusting his hat and tucking a blanket tightly around him. "You know your sister is probably home bouncing off the walls like a ping-pong ball 'cause I told her we would be home a half hour ago."_

_Eric had spent the previous night after his son was born at home with their daughter. It hadn't surprised the new dad that when the babysitter for morning, godfather Horatio was called into the lab to process new evidence he bought the little girl with him. Rick Stetler hadn't been pleased about this. Horatio explained since he __supposed__ to be off and he could do what he pleased in his off-time that he had planned to watch his godchild for a while till her parents came home with their new child in a few hours. _

_"What was I supposed to do, leave her alone?"_

_"She can't be here," Rick said in his best intimating tone, a tone that made Horatio quiver with laughter, not fear. "You either leave her in the car or take her somewhere else."_

_"No," Horatio said, "try either she stays in my office while I work or I go home."_

_"Not an option, Horatio."_

_"Well. I guess Chloe and I will go home then. C'mon, my angel," Horatio said, taking Chloe's hand._

_Horatio didn't think Chloe heard what Rick said about leaving her in the parking lot. She was standing a few feet away excitedly chattering to Natalia and Alexx about her new baby brother. The two women did hear even though they were talking to the little girl. They were going to let the IAB agent have it as soon as Chloe left. They couldn't believe what he had said. Leave a four-year-old in the car for a few hours and in the heat of a Miami June morning. These were fighting words. Chloe and Horatio were gone only twenty minutes before getting back to Chloe's home._

The little girl was now standing by the window watching for her parents' SUV. Horatio smiled at how excited she was. When Chloe saw her parents' vehicle come around the bend, she shrieked "they're here!" and ran to the front door.

"Whoa! Slow down, Chloe." Horatio picked Chloe up from the spot where she stood near the front door. He thought she might get hit by the door she was standing so close by.

Horatio was happy to get to see and hold his godson. Ethan didn't make a sound when he was placed in Horatio's arms.

"Hello Ethan," Horatio said to him softly. "It's nice to finally meet you. You certainly do look like your sister. You're both adorable."

Horatio made sure the family had everything they needed so they could just stay home, enjoy each other and not have to venture outside the home. Eric had called in two sick days for the day Ethan was born and the following day. Now he was taking the three weeks of paternity leave the department offered.

"Thank you for everything, Horatio," Calleigh said, giving him a hug.

"No problem at all, Calleigh. Congratulations, guys. See you later."

As he was walking out the door Horatio turned slightly. His curiosity had got the best of him, he wanted to see how Chloe interacted with her brother now that were here and home on "her turf." Ethan was in the infant carrier on the sofa, Chloe had climbed onto the sofa and touching his hands, telling her mother how tiny they were.

"Can I hold Etan, mommy?" He heard Chloe ask Calleigh.

"Sure, sweetpea," she said.

The parents smiled to find out that Chloe had found spending the previous morning with "Wyan" to be fun. They had put together one of her larger puzzles and watched _Cars._ She wanted to know if Ryan was going to babysit again. Chloe and her parents didn't know yet but Ryan had also very much enjoyed it. Although he would not be at all comfortable taking care of a tiny baby like Ethan, some people just weren't comfortable with small babies, that wasn't a crime, he would be at ease and happily look after Chloe again anytime.

**_Translations_**

Mijito_ - my little son_


	55. Truth about Baby Brothers

_Sorry about the short chapter but I'm having a busy week!_

_**The Truth About Baby Brothers**_

Ethan had been home three days. Chloe was starting to think babies weren't so that much fun. Ethan was noisy. He cried all the time, at least in Chloe's opinion. He'd start to cry just as she and mommy were about to play a game or when daddy was going to read her a story. And there were times that it took both mommy and daddy to get Ethan to go to sleep. Last night she didn't even get her bedtime story or get a kiss goodnight. She fell asleep while Ethan was still crying.

_Baby brothers are stupid_, she thought before sleep overtook her. Daddy and mommy did go in and kiss their daughter but she were already asleep by then. Since he had been home even though it only had been a mere three days, it was no doubt Ethan's waking up three times a night had disrupted Chloe's sleep. That was why they didn't say anything when the girl slept till 9:00 instead the usual 7:30. They checked on her, adjusting the covers and giving her a peck on the cheek but let her sleep. She probably needed the rest. They understood that a new baby in the house was a big adjustment for her as well as them.

That afternoon when Chloe told Eric she didn't like her baby brother because he was "too noisy" he didn't reprimand her; he took Alexx's advice and had put himself in his daughter's shoes, he would have felt the same way. For close to four years Chloe had him and Calleigh all to herself, now she had to share them with someone she thought was "too noisy."

Alexx had told them they had been fortunate. Her daughter Janie decided she didn't like her little brother the moment her parents bought him home.

"Didn't Chloe like Ethan for two days?" She said with a smile.


	56. Papi's Girl

_**Papi's Girl**_

In the mind of a four-year-old having to go to bed without a bedtime story and without being tucked in must have felt like punishment. Eric and Calleigh felt _so_ guilty that by the time they had got to Chloe the previous night she was asleep. New baby or not, they both vowed this would not happen again. Calleigh told her husband that she agreed with him, right now if she were Chloe she would like the baby either, especially since he had deprived her of her bedtime story and bit of special time with mom and dad. They had gone through the newborn thing before. One of them could take care of Ethan for thirty minutes while one of them spent time with Chloe. Both would kiss her goodnight and Chloe could chose who she wanted to read her a story, or a few.

"Who do you want to read you your story tonight?" Eric asked his daughter, helping her from the table after dinner.

"Daddy!" She grinned.

Eric smiled back at his daughter. He said, "how about mommy give you your bath early and then daddy can read you a couple of stories?"

"Okay!"

Everybody from the lab was coming over to meet the baby the following evening to meet the baby. The couple knew that Horatio and now Ryan would be doting on Chloe with the knowledge that the child felt neglected. When Ryan had dropped over briefly the second day Ethan were home to bring over a present, he also bought something for Chloe, the DVD _The Pirates that don't do anything: A Veggietales Movie._ He had watched _Veggietales_ cartoons on t.v. with Chloe the morning he babysat her. Calleigh had found it to be a sweet surprise to see her daughter greet her co-worker with a hug and kiss, the same way she greeted her godfather. Whether they had children or not everyone seemed to realize that Chloe was in serious need of being doted on. When the guests were cooing over the baby Eric had taken advantage of the moment, sat next to his child, pulling her into his lap, blowing a raspberry on her neck.

Chloe giggled.

"Mommy and daddy love you, princesa," Eric whispered to her. "I know it's hard getting used to Ethan. We're very proud of you."

Calleigh joined them on the other side of Chloe. She leaned in and kissed her daughter's cheek.

"How's my little girl?" She said to her softly.

"Will you watch my new movie wit me later, mommy?" Chloe asked.

Chloe was talking about the new movie Ryan had given her.

"I certainly will, sweetheart. I missed you. I'm looking forward to spending time with you."

A dose of affection from her parents did Chloe good. After a few minutes she got off the couch and went to play blocks with her new "uncle" Ryan. She showed him some of the pictures she had colored that day and asked when he was going to babysit her again.

"I don't know, honey," Ryan told her. "You'll have to ask mommy and daddy. I had a lot of fun with you last time."

Overall, Calleigh and Eric were handling the stress of having a preschooler and a newborn well. No doubt they were going to have moments where they became overwhelmed with the stress of the exhaustion because they were now again being woken up several times a night by their son. Both were glad that at least Chloe could sleep in and get the rest she needed. Like any young child she was more prone to misbehave if she were tired. To avoid over-reacting because of stress if Chloe _did_ do something she wasn't supposed to or being too loud, nearly every parent they knew told them to stand back, take a deep breath and count to ten before they did anything. It helped them not scold the girl needlessly. That in turn seemed to help her in adjusting further to her brother's presence in the house.


	57. Not So Bad

_**Disclaimer**__: The views in the following chapter are not meant to offend parents who use safety harnesses for their children._

_**Not So Bad**_

Ethan Delko, called "Etan" by his sister was fourteen days old today. His parents thought that just _maybe_ Chloe was starting to think baby brothers weren't so bad. Occasionally one of them would hear her talking to Ethan, telling him a story or explaining a cartoon that was on the television. Once they weren't sure what she was watching but from where they were in the kitchen they heard "see dat, Etan? You tan't do dat. You get time-out over dere if you do."

The parents smiled. Chloe was giving her first piece of big sister advice to her brother, even if he didn't understand it. The girl wouldn't go near a dirty diaper to 'help' her parents but that was just fine. She didn't have to. It wasn't her job. Chloe did however seem to enjoy holding and feeding Ethan his bottle sometimes. Mom and Dad were now putting together plans for Chloe's birthday that was in six weeks. The first thing they arranged was that Paloma was going to look after Ethan at the party at Pavel and Chlorinda's on that day. It was Chloe's big day. She deserved to have mom and dad's attention, especially when her brother was still so new at the time of her birthday.

The sight of these on children, even if they were "disguised" with plush backpacks on the back annoyed him to the hilt.

_No matter how you put it, it's a fuckin' __leash__, _Eric thought seeing a toddler walking with her mother wearing a "safety harness." Eric always thought the safety of children was paramount long before he had become a parent himself. But a parent putting a _child_ on a _leash_, for their own convenience, instead of teaching them to stay next to them was disgusting and just plain _lazy_. And what was more important? Keeping your eyes on your shopping bags or your child? He had said that much, but when Rachel's boys were toddlers she used "leashes" on them. Rachel had noticed his expression and asked him about it. He was honest with her. She told him when he had children when one was a toddler and other a baby, he would see things differently for sanity sake.

He didn't.

It was suggested only _once_ when Chloe was two that he and Calleigh use a harness on her, by Speed. Eric had been telling his friend how the girl had liked to run and hide from them at the moment. A death glare quickly ceased that discussion.


	58. Flying Solo

_**Flying Solo**_

Today was Eric's first day back at work and Calleigh's first day alone with two children. The ballistics expert was up for the challenge. The first thing she said to herself that was what she did every morning for the past two weeks and six days.

_Be patient with Chloe. She's only 4 and it hasn't even been a month since Ethan's been home._

Calleigh fed Ethan at 6:30, changed his diaper and put him back down. He usually got up again for the day at 7:15. Calleigh was awaken at 7:20, not by her son but by Chloe gently tapping on her arm.

"Good morning, sweetpea," she said to Chloe. "What time is it?"

Her question for her older child was just automatic; she hadn't expected the girl to answer her. However, Chloe couldn't quite tell time but she knew her numbers and could read the digital clock.

"Seven two two. Etan is awake. I'm hungry."

Calleigh touched her daughter's messed hair and kissed her cheek. She noticed there wasn't any sound coming from the baby monitor.

"How do you know your brother's awake?" She asked.

"I went in to see him," Chloe replied. "And he wasn't being noisy. He had 'is fingers in 'is mouth."

Calleigh stifled a giggle. The tone of Chloe's voice silently added _for once._

Chloe followed her mother closely as she went to Ethan's nursery. Mommy had told her that as soon she got Ethan changed she would make breakfast.

"There's my handsome lil man," Calleigh said, picking up Ethan and kissing his face. "Did your sister come and see you this morning?"

Calleigh made her daughter her favorite chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, with a strawberry on the side. Out of the blue two months before Chloe decided she was too big for a sippy cup. She now drank from a regular plastic cup. The way little kids were with dishes, they were going to stick with plastic drinking cups for a while. Chloe seemed to like all the different colors they came in. Eric had tried not to show surprise the particular morning when he gave Chloe her apple juice in her sippy cup and she replied "I don't want dat cup, daddy. I want dat cup," she was pointing to a blue plastic cup on the counter. "Please," she added.

Eric decided not to prevent her from trying something new. Most kids Chloe's age were very attached to their sippy cups and their parents went through days of tantrums to get them to move to a new phase.

"_Good girl!_" Eric said, kissing Chloe's head as she took her drink. "You're very good at this. Daddy's so proud of you. Mommy will be so happy."

Part of Calleigh was sad that her daughter seemed to be growing up so fast, even if there was a newborn in the house. There was no denying that Chloe wasn't a baby anymore, mommy and daddy's baby maybe, but she had blossomed into a little girl.

Knowing everything at home was going well put Eric at ease when he called to check on his family. He smiled talking to his daughter when she told him "Etan" was sitting in his chair with his fists in his mouth and she and mommy were coloring. Eric couldn't believe how fast Chloe had grown either.

_*****A Distant Memory....waiting for results...******_

He wanted to be the father of Melissa's daughter, he really did. However Eric was aware that the chances he wasn't the father were quite high. Not seeing the child was a defense action; he hadn't wanted to see her, think she were the most beautiful baby ever, maybe even make himself see similarities to himself and then the test come back the girl wasn't not his. Then no matter how much he loved the child Eric would be a legal stranger so him gaining custody of Melissa's newborn would be impossible. He would have leave broken-hearted, empty-handed and with an empty crib at home. Eric would never know about the conversation between two technicians in the hospital lab as they were beginning the DNA test to see whether or not Eric was a father.

_One of the woman, the one who had taken the samples from the father and the baby said "I __can't __believe__ we're doing a DNA test! That sweet thing is __spitting __image__ of Mr. Delko!"_

_The other woman hadn't seen Eric or Chloe. She had met Melissa; she had gone to the woman's room to take her DNA. Melissa was telling everyone in sight that she was "elated" to be "rid of the parasite," that she didn't care what happened to or where the baby she had just had went. Ideally, Melissa thought the child would grow up in foster care, being bounced around and be miserable because "she made me so miserable for months." She said there was a possibility that "so many" guys could be the father but Eric Delko, a crime scene investigator with the Dade County Police Department, was the only name and contact information she could remember. Melissa hadn't thought for one second that Eric would take his child home. She indeed wanted nothing to do with the newborn. However her motive for relinquishing her parental rights as soon as she could was so that Eric couldn't "hit her up" for child support "if" he was the father and "if" he wanted the baby._

_"That woman is self-centered, cold __skank__," the other woman said. "I'm so glad either way this precious baby will have a loving home."_

_"Did Mr. Delko say whether he intended to take the baby home?"_

_"He does. He has everything ready. Including a proper name. He is just waiting for these results."_

_Both women had heard how Eric hadn't wanted to see the baby and his reasons for doing so. THey both thought it was perfectly understandably considering the circumstances. Eric had felt nothing short of elation hearing the nurse on the phone tell him he was a father. stepping out the door he grabbed his dogital camera. He was definitely going to document this moment._


	59. In Your Face! CHAPTER UPDATED

_The following conversation is between Melissa Jakobs and unnamed friend._

_**In Your Face!**_

_That __better__ be a different kid, _a blond woman turned brunette thought angrily. She was watching as Eric playing at the park with a little girl he called Chloe. The girl looked about four. Melissa had thought for one instant that Eric _was_ the man who knocked her up. _He'd better have knocked someone else up the same time or adopted a kid. _The thought of "it" now being a happy, healthy, secure and loved child with a stable home and family enraged Melissa.

Melissa Jakobs was back in Miami for a few weeks. It was close to spring break after all. Parties, booze and college boys. She couldn't miss that. Four years ago after she gave birth in the state she hasn't stuck around for the results of the paternity test that was done on a Dade County Crime Scene Investigator named Eric Delko. She checked her out of the hospital, against medical advice, just hours after her c-section, leaving her written wishes with the hospital social worker. She loathed the child the moment the test came out positive and the feeling remained. Eric was one of the long list of men who possibly made her pregnant, and he wasn't the only one of Latino decent. She had been surprised to hear that he showed up for the paternity test._When she ran into a former friend on a Miami street Melissa asked her "when did Eric Delko become a father?" She had to know if the girl in the park was the "rodent" that gave her ugly stretchmarks and a c-section scar that prevented her from wearing a barely there bikini._

_The other woman had become a former friend when she saw Melissa's true nature when Melissa became pregnant._

_"When you had a baby," the woman replied "Remember, that precious child you gave birth to four years ago? The one who's face you refused to look at? The one who you said social services or the father could name and raise?_

_"Well, Eric **was** the father. He named **his **daughter and took her home when she were two days old. Chloe even has a real mother, now. More of a mother then you ever would have been. The woman raising Chloe loves her more than life. And since you terminated your rights to Eric's daughter, when he married Chloe's mom a year ago, Chloe was adopted and the bond the two had since Chloe was four-days-old was made official._

_"Thankfully this makes it impossible for you to disrupt her life. Frankly, even if his wife didn't adopt her, there would be icicles in hell before Eric would let see her, not that Chloe or any child needs someone like **you** around, not that you deserve that privledge. You don't."_


	60. That's My Boy!

_**That's My Boy!**_

Ethan had got to meet all of his parents' co-workers the week daddy went back to work. No cases came yet this morning so why couldn't they hang around and see the baby? Stetler muttered something about the crime lab "not being a daycare." No one in the break room heard Rick, making him leave in a huff. He certainly didn't want to hold the baby.

Chloe wanted Ryan to held her baby brother and didn't understand why the CSI with a case of OCD was nervous to do so.

"He don't bite, Wyan," she told him. "He just cries a lot."

A chuckle went through the room.

What Ryan was afraid of was Ethan throwing up on him since Calleigh had said she had just fed the boy before the four left home. On Chloe's urging, because he thought the girl was "too adorable" Ryan relented. The four-week-old kicked his legs, gurgled but didn't cry when he was placed in Ryan's arms. As much as he was nervous, Ryan tried his best to make himself relax because he did know one thing, babies could sense tension.

"Hi Ethan," Ryan said.

"I think he likes you, Ryan," Horatio said.

In the presence of Chloe, Horatio deviated from calling Ryan his usual "Mr. Wolfe," mostly to avoid having to answer the questions the girl would ask.

"You have to bring him at the right time, bounce him around a bit and get him to puke on Rick," Frank smiled.

"Next time Stetler crosses ya, you can borrow him," Calleigh said, smiling. "For a fee."

"What kind of fee?"

"Babysitting," Eric answered.

Both Eric and his wife knew Ryan wouldn't be babysitting at least Ethan any time soon. Ryan had told them he would watch Chloe anytime again. He would most likely run from a dirty diaper if he was that afraid of the baby just spitting up on him. Horatio had taken care of Chloe since she was less than three weeks old; he could handle anything a tiny baby could dish out and not even flinch. He told his friends if it was possible for them arrange their first night out when he was off he'd babysit.

"Yeah, when they go out, you can come over and be the one who changes the diapers and is the spit cloth," Horatio grinned. "You haven't done those things in a while."

Eric shook with his laughter when his son did throw up on no other than Tim Speedle.

"You told him to do that," Tim grumbled as Calleigh took the baby back. She was laughing too.

"_I didn't. I swear!_" Eric said, gasping for air. "But, that's my boy!"

Though he knew he had to wait a while to have both Ethan and his sister over for a sleep over, the remodeling of Horatio's house was complete. The bigger spare room was spacious. Along with the baby crib, there was a six-drawer dresser for the kids' essentials like extra clothes, Ethan's diapers and other baby care essentials. There was a double bed in the room for Chloe since she was used to one of those at home. The smaller room Horatio decided he was going to use as room for the kids' toys. Horatio told Chloe that day that he had a surprise for her the next time she visited and he was sure she'd like it.

_I got the children's room and toy room idea from the fact my (almost) 4-year-old cousin has his own bedroom and playroom at our house for when he comes over for sleep overs. He never wants to go home! LOL._


	61. A Sitdown

_**A Sit-Down**_

Eric knew he definitely had to have a sit-down talk with his parents. _They_ apparently that a whole six weeks was enough time for to have fully adjusted to having a little brother. They said they couldn't understand Chloe's sudden nature to be whiny. As exhausting as it was trying to give _both_ children the attention they needed, mom and dad made sure Chloe got attention and they also tried to make as many things as possible stayed the same, like having the same lunchtime and that the girl got a bedtime story, no matter what. Maybe the excitement of having a new grandson but Eric's mother was _definitely_ treating Chloe differently and giving her much less attention and affection. Chlorinda apparently didn't see this. She were very displeased when she heard that the Friday and Saturday she would be babysitting for them it was only going to be Ethan there after dinnertime. Horatio was picking up Chloe at 6:00pm. She was spending Friday night and Saturday afternoon with him. Eric had also told her that if Horatio was off earlier than that and wanted to get Chloe early that was fine, too.

_"Why?" Chlorinda said. The annoyance obvious in her tone, hearing her granddaughter was spending the better part of the weekend with her godfather._

_"Because she needs more attention than you give her at the moment," Eric said frankly. _

_"It's been over a month, Eric," his mother replied. "That's a pretty good adjustment period."_

_"Oh whoopie doo! Think about it, ma; for four years, she's been the center of attention. And even though we tried to prepare her for it, one day this baby moves into the house and her whole life is turned upside-down. That's a lot to take in for a child. She does have to learn to share and get used to less attention but she __does__ deserve more attention than she's getting right now. You and dad, of all people should know that!_

_"Even though me and Calleigh are working on it, __**we're**__ not even giving Chloe the time she deserves right now but at least we see it and admit it! Over at H's, she'll get all the attention she could ever want."_

_Eric had talked to Horatio about the problem he was having with his parents regarding his daughter earlier in the week. _

_"Poor Chloe," Horatio had said. Later that day, Horatio asked about taking Chloe on the weekend. _

_The surprise he had for Chloe, the two new rooms, especially the toy room which had some brand new toys added, not to mention spending quality time with a godfather who loved like his own child, had perfect timing._

_"I know they love Chloe and Chloe loves them. I'd hate to see that relationship hurt. Are you going to sit down with your parents and talk this out?" Horatio asked Eric. _

_Eric nodded. "As soon as I calm down enough to do it respectfully. I just think having raised four kids they should know better."_

Horatio couldn't argue with that notion.


	62. Spoiled By Uncle H

_**Spoiled Rotten by Uncle H**_

_"H!" _Chloe screamed, running to him.

Horatio smiled and bent down as the little girl practically flew across the room into his waiting arms. He had arrived early, deciding that he would take Chloe with him to the supermarket to get some groceries. Horatio never really kept all the that much in the house because he was seldom home. He knew he had to get kiddy essentials like apple sauce, fruit loops, milk, apple juice and animal crackers, he was also out of bread, Kraft singles and peanut butter. The two were going to make pizza together so they had to get the ingredients for that. Horatio was going to get some frozen dinners, including Chloe's favorite, chicken nuggets, corn and mashed potatoes.

"Hello my angel," he murmured, kissing the child's face. "Are you ready to go?"

Chloe nodded.

"Are you taking anybody with you?" Horatio asked, referring to stuffed animals.

Chloe nodded again.

"I'm taking Buttons and Larry," she said. "Dere in my suitcase wit my jammas and clothes." She pointed to the _Little Mermaid_ rolling Luggage.

Buttons was a brown teddy bear and Larry was a plush dog, a black, white and brown one. Where the child got the name "Larry" nobody knew. There wasn't any need for her to bring any other toys.

"Do you mind if I go in and say 'hi' to Ethan before we go?"

"He's in his chair," Chloe said. "I want to say bye-bye to him 'fore I go."

_The Holiday Inn Suite somewhere in Dade County_

"This is amazing," Calleigh said, sighing, laying back on Eric's shoulder in the hot tub in their room.

"I know. I never thought I'd enjoy silence like this," he chuckled. The oysters and other aphrodisiacs from the buffet were starting to kick in. They would have had worries on their moods about their oldest child was getting the attention she deserved but with the knowledge that Chloe was with Horatio they concentrated on each other. "Guess what this silence makes me want to do?" Eric grinned.

The couple weren't in the hot tub much longer.

At the supermarket Chloe picked out chocolate chip cookies with M & M's from the bakery for dessert and Horatio bought apple pie. They made sure not to forget the cool whip to go with the treats. As they were in the aisle getting the pizza ingredients Chloe saw a root beer display. Horatio noticed the girl's eyes.

"That's your favorite soft drink, isn't it, sweetie?"

"Yeah," Chloe said, nodding.

Horatio knew that Chloe's parents did not allow the child to have the fizzy drink too often.

_But she's mine this weekend. I can give her what I want,_ Horatio thought.

The duo ran into former police detective turned private investigator Yelina Salas.

"My goodness! You've certainly grown since the last time I saw you!" Yelina said to Chloe.

The last time Yelina Salas had seen the Delkos' daughter she was seven months old.

Back at the Delkos' residence Chlorinda had invited her best friend since childhood Laura over for a chat and to see her grandson. She complained bitterly to the other woman how Eric had told her how she was treating her two grandchildren very differently. The woman's reaction made her even more irritated. Laura had seen this behavior over at Chlorinda's before, the first time she met Ethan.

"I'm glad Eric sees that. I did," Laura said.

"I don't do that!" Chlorinda defended.

"You do! When is the last time in the past three weeks that you said more than 'hello sweetheart. Are you helping mommy and daddy with your brother' to Chloe since Ethan's been here? I _know_ it's wonderful to have another grandchild and that Ethan's special 'cause he's the first grandchild to carry on the family name but _come on!_ Just because Chloe is no longer a baby and isn't the baby of the family doesn't mean she doesn't need your affection and attention anymore!

"You're mad 'cause Chloe's with her godfather tonight; I haven't met him or seen them together because I've heard they have a beautiful, close relationship and he spoils her with attention when they're together. Personally I'm glad that's where she's at right now because she certainly deserves to be fussed over."

This conversation caused a light to _slowly_ turn on in Nana Delko's head.

At Horatio's, Chloe was hungry. The two decided that they would make pizza for lunch tomorrow. They would have frozen dinners now.

"After we eat I'll show your surprise," Horatio told Chloe.

"Okay!"

The entire weekend Horatio wasn't going to bring up the topic of Ethan, unless Chloe did. After eating Horatio told Chloe she should take her luggage with her to her first surprise because Buttons and Larry might want to see it too. When he opened the first door, the one to the bedroom Chloe's eyes widened. The double bed had a lilac Disney Princesses bedspread on it and there was a matching lamp on the chest of drawers.

"Wow!" Chloe exclaimed.

Horatio smiled.

"Why don't you take Larry and Buttons out and put them on the bed, see what they think of it?"

"Okay!"

Chloe took her plush friends out of the suitcase and placed them on the bed.

"I tink they like it," she said.

Putting her clothes in the two bottom drawers of the dresser Chloe said "you put a bed here for Ethan, too."

"I did," he replied. "But I don't think he's going to be staying here for a while."

"Yeah," Chloe said with a smile. "'Cause he's a little baby and I'm a big girl."

"You are."

The second room was even a bigger hit.

"That's _amazing!_" Chloe said, seeing the room with all her and some new stuff like some _Dr. Suess_ books, a _Veggietales_ DVD like the one she had at home, more coloring books and crayons and the board game _Candy Land_ . "Tank you, H!" She said, giving Horatio a big hug and kiss.

"You're welcome, pumpkin," he said.

They sat down on the floor and played two games of _Candy Land_ before Chloe decided she wanted to watch the _Veggietales_ DVD before bed.

_Hope you all enjoyed this longer chapter! A big thank you goes out to my 3.5 year old cousin for his favorite word "amazing."_


	63. Shared Bonds

_**Shared Bonds **_

Chloe slept peacefully the whole night in her new bed. Horatio had hoped she would but knew it was a possibility a new bed might make her nervous. His friends had told him that Chloe usually came in their bed for a cuddle at 6:00am. That was fine with Horatio.

He felt a light tap on his hand in his sleep. Opening his eyes, he saw Chloe, she was smiling. Glancing at the alarm clock he saw it was 6:11am.

"Hi honey," he said, moving the blankets. "Do you want to come and snuggle?"

Chloe nodded.

Horatio smiled, lifted Chloe into the bed and wrapped the covered around her. He hugged the girl tightly and kissed her head, envying that Eric got this every morning.

"My baby," he murmured.

Chloe snuggled into Horatio's bare chest and fell back to sleep. Nobody accused Horatio of playing favorites with his godchildren and Horatio knew every relationship was individual. Calleigh and Eric knew that their boss and friend thought of Chloe as his daughter as well, in a way. They didn't mind that one ounce; a child could never have too many "parents." Horatio knew he wasn't "daddy" to Chloe and would never claim to be. As much as she _adored_ Horatio, he was not daddy, he was Uncle Horatio.

Although he was still so young that it was difficult to notice, Ethan was already developing a close relationship with his godfather though he was much more of a "pop-pop's boy." He loved Pavel. Pavel had made a big effort for the start to make sure he wasn't ignoring his only granddaughter or treating her differently He hoped he wouldn't do it unconsciously, either. And he _really_ hoped his wife would start doing the same _very_ soon. It had angered the retired Russian engineer that his wife Chlorinda had looked at Eric's oldest child so differently so fast. So what if Ethan would be the first grandson to pass on the family name? A little brother didn't change the fact that Chloe was still precious and pop-pop didn't want her to forget that.

Alexx Woods was godmother of both the Delko children. It had essentially offended Eric's relatives that he had chosen people outside of the family to raise his children if something happened to him and his wife. It had been stipulated in both their wills there be _**no custody battle**_. That Horatio would have full custody of the kids, he could initiate adoption proceedings and change their names to "Delko-Caine" or just "Caine" if he so choose. Lastly _if_ the children started to call Horatio "daddy" after living with him, no one in the Delko family was to correct them or make them feel guilty. Eric's family would have regular access to the kids. If Horatio couldn't raise the children, Alexx Woods (with her husband) would; the same rules applied if they were to call Alexx "mommy." It had taken them a while to get over this but the Delkos' had. Seeing the attachments between Horatio and the children, as well as Alexx and the children they realized that one of those homes may be the best place for them in event of tragedy.

The couple were home before their child was. After feeding the ducks in the back of Horatio's property and having pizza for lunch, the two went to the aquarium at Seaworld. Her parents had no idea about the renovations Horatio had done to his home. He had been sure if he had told them about it they would have tried to talk him out of it. Not that they could have. Chloe was quite excited to tell them about the new bedroom at H's and the toy room.

"_What?_" Calleigh asked, trying her best not to sound floored or displeased. "That's very cool, sweetie."

Chloe went to her room to put Buttons and Larry back in their place on her bed.

Calleigh smiled and laughed. "You're something else, Horatio Caine," she said.

"Running for the 'top uncle' contest, H?" Eric asked.

Horatio smiled. "Going full-throttle."


	64. Feliz Cumpleanos, Mami!

_I hope "happy birthday, mommy" is translated correctly into Spanish! If not, please let me know!_

_**Feliz Cumpleanos, Mami!**_

A month after Chloe's 4th birthday was Calleigh's birthday. It was the children's godfather's first time looking after both children at once. He stayed with the kids at their house while the couple went out for dinner and a night of dancing.

Besides mommy, daddy and Aunt Alexx, Horatio was the only other adult Chloe had been around who seemed to be able to divide their attention pretty well between caring for Ethan and paying attention to her. The older man arrived a bit early, Chloe was already in her pj's and Calleigh and Eric were still getting ready.

"Happy birthday, ma'am," he said, kissing Calleigh on the cheek when she met him in the porch.

"Thank you, sir. I hope we didn't miss up any Friday night plans you had," she replied.

"Nah," Horatio said. "I always have a better time with those two."

Ethan started to cry shortly after Horatio arrived.

"I'll get him," Horatio said. "You finish getting ready."

"Hi there, lil' fella," he said, picking up the fussing baby. "What's this all about?"

Ethan calmed down some when Horatio picked him up. The three-month-old become happy again after Horatio changed his diaper.

"There. Is that better?" Horatio asked him, kissing his head lifting him off the change table after re-buttoning his sleeper. "I bet you're hungry, too. We'll go and get your milk."

"You look pwetty, mommy," Chloe told her mother when her parents came into the living room, ready to leave. After Horatio fed Ethan a bottle, he and Chloe were going to play _Candy Land_. Horatio had given her the game for her birthday so she could play it at home too. Chloe was supposed to be in by 9:00pm on the weekend. But would she be in bed at that time with Uncle Horatio babysitting?

_Mostly likely not_, mom and dad thought. _But who cares?_

"Have a good time," Horatio told the two.

Chloe was up till 10:00pm. She and Horatio played _Candy Land_ and Chloe showed Horatio "Biscuit", the fur-real yellow lab that she had got for her birthday for her parents. By the time Horatio finished reading her a story in bed Chloe had fallen asleep.


	65. The Same Devil

_**The Same Devil**_

Following her return to Alabama from Florida Melissa Jakobs legally changed her name to Alissa Dobbin. The image of the happy little girl playing in the park still festered in her mind. Despite Melissa or Alissa gaining minimal weight on purpose and smoking a pack a day, "_that"_ appeared perfectly healthy.

_It __**wasn't**__ supposed to turn out this way, _she kept thinking.

Chloe was either supposed to be a sickly kid or one with a bunch of behavioral issues who was defiant and a burden and strain on Eric's marriage. and the child's stepmother, who adopted her was supposed to be resenting the child's presence in the home and thinking of Choe as "her husband's child" and not hers, at least in Alissa's opinion.

Melissa or Alissa wasn't aware that the former friend of hers in Florida named Penny Morgan that she had ran into Miami while there had taken it upon herself to contact Eric Delko. She told him how first Melissa had changed her name and appearance, giving him photos (the only ones Eric ever had in his possession) of her. She told him how the biological mother had seen the child with Eric and that she knew it was the baby she had. The woman said that Alissa hadn't made any direct threats but it was something about the look on her face when Alissa saw Chloe happy and free of health problems scared Penny. It was a look a pure hatred. Penny didn't know what, but the woman feared Chloe could be harmed if her biological mother ever came in contact with her.

Hearing this, Eric went from cop to concerned father, and a scared one. He sincerely thanked Penny. She hadn't had to do this. He called Tripp and Ryan into the room, asking Penny to repeat what she told him to them. Penny also gave Tripp all her contact information; numbers where she could reached, her home address and where she worked.

"Whatever she calls herself now, I know she's back in Alabama. I saw the number when she called me just last night," Penny told them. "Would you like that number, too? I know you have to rule me out but please believe me; I'm not cahoots with _her_ to harm this child."

As Penny was escorted out of the police station Eric let out a long breath.

"Don't worry, Eric," Frank said. "We'll make sure nothing happens to Chloe. Christ, you know how much we all love her."

"I'll copy these photos, get them out to the rest of the team and let them know what going on," Ryan said, leaving one photo on the desk in front of Eric.

"I have to go home and talk to Calleigh," Eric said, picking up the photo of the woman who gave birth to Chloe.

At home Eric told his wife everything and showed her the photo of their oldest child's birth mother, before it was to be locked away. Some time in her life Chloe would see this photo but not now. This was the first time Calleigh had seen the face of the woman who had given her the most beautiful daughter ever. Despite the woman's dyed brown hair, there was _none_ of her in Chloe. Chloe was all Delko.

They knew at the present "Alissa Dobbin" wasn't a threat to their daughter but at least now they and their friends and family knew the face to watch for.


	66. Confidentiality

_**Confidentiality **_

Chloe's parents had not taken for granted their daughter's good health. They had not been able to access any information about whether or not _Alissa_ had drank or did any type of drugs while she was expecting. Penny had told them about the woman's heavy smoking and calorie-counting during pregnancy. To Penny's knowledge, Alissa had stayed away from drinking and drugs because she was afraid the doctor would somewhere detect it in blood or urine tests and possibly notify CPS to look into her life upon the child's birth. The last thing Alissa wanted was social services having any information on her. The physician could not tell Chloe's father anything about any possible past drug use by Alissa because of doctor-patient-confidentiality. She was only bound to tell him if Chloe had been born with drugs or alcohol in her body which she wasn't. Luckily there was no "Alissa-Penny" confidentiality.

Penny had told Eric how _Alissa_ (they all had to get used to that name) had told her how the doctor had "bitched on" her "constantly" about her terrible eating habits, barely gaining weight, her late nights and mostly of all, her heavy smoking.

_"Doesn't she get that I __**don't care**__ if it's born healthy?" Alissa had said. "I just want it out and be someone else's problem!"_

With the exception of the usual kid stuff, an occasional cold or ear infection, Chloe was perfectly healthy. Most children born to mothers who smoked heavily had breathing problems, were sick more often, often developed Asthma and were underweight at birth. Chloe had not experienced any of this. She was a bit small in stature for her age but that could contributed to many things. The family's doctor was not concerned about it. The girl's weight fit her height and she was growing at a healthy rate.

Calleigh still couldn't wrap her head around how an expectant mother could be indifferent to the health of her baby, whether or not she planned to raise the child. She was sitting on the couch thinking about this when Chloe came in from the back deck where she was playing with some toy cars. Calleigh and Eric didn't subscribe to the idea that only little boys could play with dinkies. Eric had gone back to work. It was lunchtime and she was hungry.

"Hi mommy!" She said, brightly, a big smile on her face.

"Hi ya, sweetpea," Calleigh said, forcing herself to smile. "Are you hungry?"

Chloe nodded.

"How about a grilled cheese?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, C'mon," she said taking the little girl's hand and walking into the kitchen.

"Is Etan sleeping mommy?" Chloe asked.

"He is."

"How come daddy was here?"

Eric had went out to the deck to say a quick 'hello' to his daughter and kiss her head before he went back to work from his fast trip home. He wasn't going to be rude and not see her.

"Daddy had to get something he forget this morning," Calleigh lied. "He wasn't here very long."

Although Calleigh knew _she_ was Chloe's mommy, not any other woman, the thought of _Alissa_ even getting near _her_ little girl made her ill with both fear and anger. Why would this woman want to harm Chloe? She didn't want her in the first place and Eric had cut every tie between the two possible. There was no way to cut the biological one. If there were a way to do that, Eric would have. It wasn't like _Alissa_ was forced to have anything to do with Chloe, she hadn't even had to pay a cent of child support.

_"I don't want __**that**__ woman to have any reason to have __**any**__ contact with __**my**__ daughter. That __**includes**__ her money," Eric told the social worker when she came to him before Chloe's biological mother had formally petitioned to terminate her parental rights. "I know you're just doing your job, but no thank you."_

_Chloe was just two weeks old at the time so she was only legally Eric's child, not Calleigh's. State law allowed a parent thirty days to change their after signing off on their parental rights. The termination of then Melissa's rights wouldn't be final for two more weeks, though everyone involved knew that the woman wouldn't change her mind. _

_"You can still get the court to legally bar her from having any access to the baby but have pay child support. But you would have to do so within two weeks."_

Eric knew he could support his child and if he came across a hard time he knew he had the support system to help him out. His daughter wouldn't want for anything.


	67. Family in Town EDITED

_**Family in Town**_

Calleigh was happy. Her aunt Roberta or "Aunt B" was moving to Miami. She had bought a condo just a short distance away. The two had always been very close. Calleigh felt closer to Roberta than she did her own mother. Aunt B was the grandma figure in her child's lives on her side of the family. She couldn't wait to see Chloe again and meet Ethan. Calleigh had sent the woman pictures and she couldn't believe how much Chloe had grown since she had seen her last.

"Ethan is _precious._ God, _both_ him and Chloe are Eric on the spot!" She told her niece.

Chloe was as excited as her mom to hear that Aunt B was moving to Miami. She talked to "auntie" on the phone, thrilled to hear that once Aunt B was all moved in she could have sleep overs there, too. She was even more excited to hear that aunt B was coming for a visit before her move. At the Delko house presently there was the master bedroom, Chloe's room and Ethan's nursery. The other room was used as a home office. The older woman didn't mind staying in the tiny spare room on the futon that folded into a sofa when it wasn't in use.

"You know I can sleep anywhere, honey," she said.

Seeing his wife giddy with happiness about her aunt moving to town made Eric smile. He knew she hadn't had the kind of close family and happy childhood he did. He was glad one of the few family members she felt close to was going to be nearer to her. Louisiana bought back bad memories for Calleigh. Leaving the Mardi Gras state and all happened there far behind, she was happy in Miami.

_********Distant Memories***********_

_Eric couldn't deny it, he was scared. He __**still**_ _wanted the girl born to Melissa to be his. Something about being on the verge of the taking this test was making ill with anxiety. He hoped he didn't puke when the Q-tip was put in his mouth. This test was going to change his life and for the better; he prayed he wasn't going to be let down. He had even decided what he would name the little girl._

"_May I help you?" The woman in the office window said, pulling him from his thoughts. He stood up._

"_I'm Eric Delko. I'm, um, here for a paternity test."_

_The woman looked at the clipboard in front of her._

"_Yes. Right this way," she said, gesturing to a door on the left. _

_The mother and baby's DNA had already been taken_. _The technician was used to this nervous __behavior with men who came in to give samples for paternity tests. She could tell Eric Delko was one of those cases where he __**wanted**_ _to be the father and was afraid he wasn't._

"_We'll get the results as soon as we can," the woman said when she finished swabbing the inside of his cheek and marking the vile._

_Eric nodded._

"_Um, can I ask you somethin'?" He said to the woman, nervously._

"_Sure."_

"_Have you seen the baby? I mean, is she okay?"_

_Whether or not the newborn were his he hoped she was healthy. If the baby was his, even if she **wasn't** healthy, he was still going to love her and raise her._

_The technician gave him a reassuring smile._

"_I have. She's fine. Very healthy."_

_What a sweet man, she thought. I think this one wants to be the dad._

_****Beyond Words****_

"_Right this way," a nurse said, leading Eric to a quiet corner of the nursery where there was a rocking chair. "Have a seat. I'll bring her to you."_

_Come here, little girl, Eric heard the nurse say. You have a visitor. Your daddy came to see you._

"_Hello sweetheart," Eric said, before emotion overtook him._

_****Time Flies****_

_Eric lay in bed, looking at the early morning sun of Miami. He couldn't believe his little girl was 11-months-old today._ _It was still surreal to him that he was a father. Cooing and babbling could be heard on the baby monitor next to the bed. He smiled and headed for his daughter's room._

_Chloe was standing up in her crib. Her face broke into a grin and she squealed when she saw her daddy, her new bottom teeth showing. _

"_Buena dias, mi princesa. Como esta mi nina esta manana?_" _Eric smiled, picking her up and giving her a kiss. "Did you sleep well? You're my sunshine, you know that?"_

_Eric changed Chloe's diaper, washed both their hands and the two headed to the kitchen. _

"_Today's a big day. You're 11 months old. Almost the big one. Daddy and mama are planning a __big party for you at nana and pop-pop's. Everybody's coming to see you."_

"_Ma-ma," Chloe said almost in a question of "where is mama."_

"_Yes. I know. You'll see mama soon." _

_Calleigh was coming over to Eric's for dinner that evening and to spend a few hours with the man she loved and the baby girl she loved as her daughter. Her condo no longer felt like "home," Eric's place did. Even though they wanted to be together more than anything in the world, it wasn't just about them, with a baby involved they wanted to take things slow to make sure it was right._

_**Translations**_

_Buena dias mi princesa. Como es mi nina esta manana? —__**Good morning, my princess. How's my little girl this morning?**_


	68. Mis Tres Amores

_**Mis Tres Amores (My Three Loves)**_

Eric Delko had three loves in his life, in no particular order; Calleigh, Ethan and Chloe. Calleigh's three loves, in no particular order were Eric, Chloe and Ethan.

As a detective there was three things Eric couldn't do that others did; wear his wedding band on the job, carry photos of his children and openly tell anyone who asked that he was married. It was a precaution for the family's safety. Likewise, professionally Calleigh still went by her previous name. She too didn't wear her wedding ring, state whether or not she was married and a stranger wouldn't know if she was a parent. She didn't carry any pictures of her children on her. And unless it was with their close co-workers and behind doors the two never talked about their kids. They didn't take any chances on any suspect knowing anything about their children and their personal lives.

That's not to say cases involving children didn't effect them. It did. Since they had become parents, maybe it effected them more, some victims making think of their own children. Still being the professionals they were neither didn't let that emotion show because they couldn't. There were times the job definitely made them hug their kids harder. Calleigh was very much enjoying being home with Chloe and Ethan full-time. It was the first time that she spent so much time with Chloe and she was thoroughly enjoying both her children. She couldn't believe how fast Ethan was growing. He was looking more like his dad everyday. Whenever they had the kids out people would comment how much alike the siblings looked.

Calleigh and the kids unfortunately ran into Chloe's biological mother the first time she took Ethan out in his stroller without Eric. The trio went for lunch at a pizza shop a short distance away from home. She felt confident in her ability to take the two out by herself, she was secretly looking forward to showing them off. Since she was about two-years, Chloe had been good at staying next to her parents when they were out in public. They didn't feel they needed to hold onto her unless they were in a crowd of people or a busy parking lot.

Chloe enjoyed the outing as well. They stopped for a few minutes to watch a street-side puppet show along the way. Penny Morgan had told Alissa Dobbin that if she _**ever**_ saw her go near the child gave up she would be the first one to take her to the floor and beat her to a pulp, in public or not. Penny was a waitress at the pizzeria. She smiled when she saw the three Delkos enjoying time together, Chloe was enjoying drawing pictures on the brown paper that covered the table. She was putting in their orders and getting their drinks when she noticed Alissa walk in. Alissa didn't see Chloe and her family right off because they were sitting in the far corner by a window. Penny wasn't quick enough to tell the server seating Alissa and the other two women with her to put them on the other side of the diner, away from the dark-haired little who was out with her mom and baby brother.

Disdain filled Alissa's face when she heard the giggle from a little girl and the child's voice say "look, mommy! It's a tiger! Grr!" Chloe was pointing to a poster on the wall advertising a circus that was coming to town. Disdain because she loathed all children, their high-pitched voices were so annoying. When Alissa turned her head and _who_ the child was, her eyes narrowed.

"What the matter?" One of the woman asked "do you know her?"

"_That's_ the kid Eric Delko knocked me up with," Alissa replied.

"So?" The other woman said. "What's the big deal? It's not like you have to put up with her." This woman hated children just as much as Alissa. However, _unlike_ Alissa _because_ she hated children, she had never been pregnant. She had a birth control implant inserted by her doctor. At least she were responsible.

Calleigh saw Alissa in the flesh for the first time when they walked past her to go to the restroom. She had been holding her daughter's hand this time because the restaurant was crowded. Alissa flinched as they were by hearing Chloe call Calleigh "mommy." In her messed up mind, Chloe wasn't to have a "mommy," or be so attached to her. Although Chloe wanted to smack Alissa so hard that her teeth fell out, she kept walking with her kids. She felt herself hold tighter to Chloe's hand, her daughter oblivious to the woman glaring her.


	69. Kisses For Papi

_**Kisses for Papi**_

Eric smiled listening to his 4-year-old daughter talk about the puppet show she saw when she were with her mother and brother but his eyes were sad. It hadn't been a good day at the lab.

_A three-year-old girl had been murdered. The person responsible for her death, her mother was in the infirmary at the county jail after trying to commit suicide. She had left a note for police after she called 911 and took a cocktail of pills and booze stating she were "going to a place beyond their reach." Also she admitted to killing the child. The child wouldn't let her sleep, she complained in the note, and was "always screaming." _

_The woman told the 911 operator that she finally snapped that morning when the child started violently vomiting after she ate breakfast. There were burn-like sores around the child's mouth. Drain cleaner was in the remains of the child's cereal. This substance had caused the burns around the child's mouth._

_"Poor baby was poisoned but that's not what killed her," Alexx said, examining the toddler's body. The child had the classic signs in her eyes of being strangled and her lips were a pale blue. There was a foam-like substance around her mouth as well. "She was strangled."_

_Eric flinched looking at the child's body as he took the required photos for evidence._

_"Do you have any idea what that is? It looks like foam but that's not consistent with strangulation."_

_"I know more once I get her to autopsy. But I would say baby girl was choking on her vomit while she was being strangled._

_"Where is this woman now?" Alexx asked._

_"Miami General. They pumped her stomach. She'll make it," Eric answered. "She'll be available for questioning in the county infirmary by the morning. Frank and Wolfe are going down there."_

_"Who is the child's father? And where is he?"_

_"Anonymous donor. Single mother, used IVF to get pregnant four years ago."_

_"Some people shouldn't allowed to reproduce. I'd love to get my hands on this doctor."_

_Both were thinking the same thing; No doubt at times parenthood was stressful and utterly exhausting, especially if you were doing alone. But this wasn't a case of an exhausted, stressed single parent losing control. This was a premeditated murder. When the poison made the child ill but didn't kill her. She strangled the child. Although a stressed-out parent was a stressed-out parent, no matter what age, this woman couldn't use youth as an excuse. She was 43-year-old. She had used IVF to conceive because she was still single, with no romantic prospects and was afraid she would never have a child otherwise. _

Seeing her father was sad, Chloe climbed onto his lap.

"Why are you sad, daddy?" She said, putting her palms on Eric's cheeks and staring him in the eyes. "Was somebody at 'ork mean to you?"

This time Eric smiled for real. He knew Chloe said this because when she had attended daycare, sometimes other children were 'mean' to her.

"No princesa," he replied, giving her an Eskimo kiss. "Daddy just had a bad day at work."

"Oh," Chloe said. "I make it better," she said, giving him a big hug and kiss.

"Thank you, honey. I feel better. Do you want to play _Candy Land_ with me before your bath?"

"Yeah!"

Chloe didn't mind that Eric had her little brother in one lap when they played the game. The three-month-old looked at the colorful board intensely.

"Now, mijito," Eric said to Ethan. "Daddy's going to put you in your swing for a bit while I give your big sister a bath."

"I'll take him," Calleigh said, coming into the room, smiling.

"Okay. No swing. You get to go to mommy." Eric kissed his wife's forehead when he handed her their son. "I love you," he murmured.

"I love you, too, babe."

Calleigh knew the day and particular crime scene had been hard for her husband. No matter how seasoned the investigator the murder of a child was always harder to see. It was understandable that he would want to spend time with the kids when he got home, more than usual. The day had been hard on Horatio and Alexx as well. Although it wasn't usual Horatio had called that evening asking to talk to Chloe. The two chatted about the girl's day Chloe told Horatio about the puppet show and the pizza parlor. Calleigh knew considering the day's events Horatio had just wanted to hear the voice of the little girl he loved like a daughter.


	70. Couple Time, Interrupted

_**Couple Time**_,_** Interrupted**_

After checking on his children for the third time since they were put to bed and feeding his son his 12:45am bottle Eric finally went to bed at 1:15am. He knew he had to be up again at 6:15am but he was restless. He sighed as he lay down next to his wife, putting his arms around her shoulders. Calleigh put her arms around her husband's waist, placing a kiss on his chest.

"You okay?" Calleigh asked softly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Eric frowned. "I don't understand it, Cal. What could possible go through someone's mind to do that to anyone? And a _child, their own child?_"

"I don't know, babe. I don't know," Calleigh murmured.

She didn't understand it either. But it felt good for both to have someone to talk who understood what both saw everyday. Maternity leave was a nice break for Calleigh. It had difficult enough for him to see what he saw at the scene as a father, being protective of his wife Eric was glad she hadn't been there. One of the hardest parts to grasp for the couple was that it wasn't like the woman had got pregnant by accident. In vitro-fertilization was not cheap and not to mention physically and emotionally taxing and time consuming. To go through all that to have a child and then do this? It didn't make sense.

Eric's paternal instincts were even stronger than usual that night. Both her parents thought that Chloe had seemed pale and her eyes were glossy. But she was still quite energetic and didn't have a temperature so they didn't make an issue of it. However at 2:15am, Chloe woke up crying for Daddy; and only daddy. She had a fever and said her head hurt. To cool the girl off Eric removed the child's pajama top that was damp with sweat, wrapped a thin blanket around her back so she wouldn't get chilled and washed her face and neck with a cold clothe. He sat with her in the rocker in her room. The girl had always found being in the rocking chair soothing. Calleigh gave her daughter a dose of Children's Tylenol for her fever and headache. Chloe's temperature was 100, if it didn't start to go down in twenty minutes Calleigh was going to call their family doctor.

"Mommy stay and cuddle with you?" Calleigh said to Chloe, knowing her husband had to work in the morning she wanted him to be able to go back to bed.

Chloe shook her head, cuddling into Eric's bare chest.

"No. I want daddy," she said.

"It's all right, Cal. I plan to call in sick tomorrow, anyway."

After Chloe had fallen asleep, her legs wrapped around her dad's waist, Eric got up from the chair and laid down on Chloe's bed with her. He stayed with her till five when he was sure she were in a deep sleep. Her fever had broke so there wasn't any need to call the doctor.

Calleigh sleepily put her arms around her husband when he slipped back into bed. She knew he didn't mind staying with Chloe to make her feel better.

"Daddy's little girl feelin' better?" She asked. "If she wasn't sick I was going to ask her what happened to 'I want mommy.'"

Calleigh hadn't told Eric yet that she had seen Alissa during lunch. Since he was staying home the next day she would tell him later in the morning.

Eric smiled in reply.

"Yeah. I think daddy made it all better. For now, anyway. She's out for a while."


	71. Paging Dr Daddy Delko

_**Paging Dr. Daddy Delko**_

Eric didn't care what anyone thought about him calling in sick the following day. Chloe definitely had a cold. She was coughing and squeezing. Occasionally her temperature would rise slightly but it was nothing to worry about. They didn't want Ethan to get sick too so Chloe didn't have too much contact with him. But she got to have daddy all to herself and eat ice cream so she wouldn't "get warm" so she was happy. Chloe didn't know why her daddy was kissing her forehead so often but that didn't bother her. Sometimes her dad was doing so to check the child for a fever and the others were just because he wanted to.

Before the kids were up that morning Calleigh had told her husband about seeing Alissa the previous day. She hadn't heard anything the woman had said but she had seen the look that Alissa had given Chloe.

_There's something wrong with that woman_, Calleigh had thought. Still she would never plague Eric with questions on why he got involved with her. _Just because Alissa had a miserable, lonely life, her mother giving a false name and then abandoning her at the hospital causing her to be raised in multiple foster homes with no permanency or attachments didn't mean her child had to have the same life. _The biggest reason being this "involvement" had produced a child that Calleigh couldn't see her life without and the second being there had been no real "relationship." Eric _barely_ knew Alissa, it was just about sex. Calleigh couldn't deny she hadn't been in a 'relationship' or two like that herself in the past. Sex was a basic human desire whether or not a person was in a relationship with another.

Everyone knew _**if**_ things had been different, _**if**_ Calleigh and Eric hadn't felt the way they had about each other and got the nerve to say it out-loud when Eric bought Chloe home that Chloe still would have had a wonderful life full of love even without a mother. No one who knew Eric ever doubted the young man would be an incredible father. When he heard about the baby girl, even before she was proven to be his, he was ready to put both his social and love life on hold to raise his child, even if he still pined for Calleigh Duquesne in his waking hours and she filled his dreams at night.

As far as Chloe's future went, just because Chloe had half of Alissa's genes didn't mean she was doomed to be like her. Being in a nurturing family counted for something, no matter what some experts said. The only thing that scared both parents about Calleigh _not_ being Chloe's biological mother was the notion of that half of Chloe's medical family history being a total mystery. All they could do there was _hope_ that the girl would not became ill and require medical help from genetic maternal relatives.

Chlorinda Delko had been 'disappointed' in Eric, hearing he had been with a woman he barely knew and now that woman was pregnant, possibly by him. But that 'disappointment' didn't bother him. It was just generation gap issue to Eric. His mother was proud, however, that he wanted to raise the child. He had balked at the very suggestion that he didn't feel he could raise the baby that his parents or one of his sister could raise her, rather than have her adopted outside the family. If he was the father, _**he**_ was going to be the parent, not any one of them. He also told his mother that _**he**_ thought there was "absolutely _**nothing**_ wrong with a child being raised outside their biological family." Further more, he thought this 'keeping the child in the family' solely on the basis of biology was "selfish." _**If **_Eric thought it was best for his daughter to be placed for adoption, whatever his reason, then he would make it happen, despite their objections. In other words he was telling them all, if the test came positive, he was either choosing to be full-time dad or relinquishing his rights.

Though raising the baby was his choice, he had wanted to let them all know that he didn't see _**voluntarily**_ placing a child for adoption to be what his mother called an "unspeakable" action.

This was the first time Eric had stood up so much to his parents. This had been too important for him _not_ to.


	72. Discoveries & Guests

_"Mi hijo pequeno" or "Mijito" means "my litlte son" in Spanish. Thank you for Translation, Bryn_Elizabeth!_

_**Discoveries & Guests**_

Eric laughed as he watched his son on the carpet. Ethan had discovered his toes and trying hard to get them in his mouth. The 5-month-old was almost sitting up on his own now. He liked to 'stand' and move his body up and down. He was rolling over on his own now and could push himself up on his arms when he was on his stomach. He could look around at the same time.

"What ya doing, mijito?" He said softly, going over to his boy, touching his soft dark hair. Eric picked up his son's favorite rattle, a soft green frog and shook it. Ethan smiled and reached for was doing much cooing now and often tried to repeat sounds people made, made his own noises. He babbled to get someone's attention. Along with knowing his name when someone said it now he recognized the word "mijito" when his daddy spoke to him. He could definitely tell family and friends from strangers now, Ethan had developed the same bond with his uncle Horatio as Chloe. He would smile and reach for H as soon as he saw him, no matter who he was with.

The Cuban picked his son up and kissed his cheek, Ethan's tiny hands gripping the rattle. He walked the boy over to the mirror hanging on the living room wall. The baby smiled, reaching for his own reflection.

Eric smiled. "Who's that handsome boy, huh?"

"Aghh!" Ethan babbled.

"Aw. Look at that," Calleigh said, watching from the doorway. "My handsome man admiring himself."

"I _am_ handsome, ain't I?" Eric grinned.

"I wasn't talking to _you_," Calleigh said, kissing her husband's cheek. "But you're not bad, either."

Calleigh felt like a little girl. She was so excited. Her aunt Roberta was coming today to stay for two weeks. Roberta was moving to Miami permanently in a month. Her things were already being moved into the condo she had purchased. She would be supervising some of transfer of her furniture and other items but would be spending most of her time with her niece and her family. Eric was working and with her five-month-old down for his nap by the time Roberta's plane landed Calleigh couldn't pick her up from the airport. Roberta told her not to worry. She was going to her condo to check on things first anyway. After that she were going to straight to Calleigh's.

"Do you remember her, sweetpea?" Calleigh asked her daughter, showing the child a picture of a younger Chloe with Roberta.

Chloe knew Roberta, whom she called "auntie" and was excited about her moving to Miami so she could have "seepovers" at her house but Chloe hadn't seen her in person since she was two and a half. She had visited just before mommy and daddy got married, before mommy's adoption of her was final and before mommy was pregnant with Ethan. Chloe's brow winkled in thought. She remembered Roberta mostly pictures and photo calls.

"I tink I do, a little bit," she said.

When Roberta arrived at the home Calleigh in the Ethan's room changing his diaper. Hearing a person at the door, a bare-foot Chloe literally hopped into the porch.

"Hi!" She said, recognizing Roberta.

"Hello sweetheart," she said, putting her suitcase down. "Do you remember me?"

Chloe nodded. "You're auntie."

"That's right," she answered. "Can I have a hug?"

Chloe smiled and ran to the woman.

"You're so big since the last time I saw you," Roberta said, kissing the child's cheek. "Where's your mommy?"

"She's wit Etan. He's stinky," Chloe said, her nose wrinkling.

Meeting Ethan Roberta knew now to come on to strong or be too loud or try to hold him right away.

"Hello there, good-looking," she said to the boy in Calleigh's arms. Ethan eyed the woman cautiously, leaned closer to his mother but didn't cry.

_I'm going away for two days with a friend! Enjoy this chapter!_


	73. Imagination

_**Imagination & Horrible Realities**_

Today Chloe had decided she were a bunny rabbit. She hopped to the porch when she saw daddy's car pull into the driveway.

"Hi ya princesa,"he smiled, taking his satchel of his shoulder and putting it on floor and picking up his daughter. "Decided to go without socks today, did you?" feeling Chloe's bare feet that were slightly cold.

"Guess what?" Chloe said.

"You turned into a bunny rabbit after daddy left for work?" Eric asked her, smiling.

"No! Auntie is here!"

Ethan was warming up to "Auntie" very quickly, now laughing and smiling in her arms. He didn't even want to go to Eric when his dad and Chloe entered the room.

"Hey Roberta," Eric said, kissing the older woman's cheek and giving her a hug. "Great to see you again."

The couple got an expected break after dinner that evening when _both_ children wanted to play with Roberta.

"Well, I _never_ thought I'd see that!" Calleigh said, laughing while both of them lay on their bed, relaxing. "_Both_ your children acting like you're invisible."

Eric stuck his lower lip out. "I'm sad and you're laughing at me."

By their bedtimes, both Ethan and Chloe wanted daddy again. Roberta thought it was so sweet how Eric had Spanish nicknames for both his children. She smiled, listening to the baby monitor. Eric was putting the baby to bed. In the room he had the boy in his arms, sitting with him in the rocking chair. Roberta didn't know if her nephew by marriage realized the piece of sound equipment was on but he probably didn't care, she thought. He was sitting, talking to his boy about his work day. It hadn't been a good one.

_The autopsy of Jillian 'Jilly' Hogan, the 3-year-old who was strangled by her mother after drain cleaner failed to kill her showed what Alexx had suspected at the scene, the girl died choking on her own vomit as she was being strangled. Exactly which one were her cause of death was impossible to tell. Either way, her mother was being charged with first-degree murder._

_Eric was baffled with how cold she had been during the interrogation. As the lead CSI on the case he ended up having to go to the jail with Frank. Eric had briefly thought that he may be excluded from interrogation because sometimes if the investigator had children similar in age to the victim, __another would do the interrogation process._

_"If you had children, __**young man,**__" the woman spat at Eric, "you wouldn't be so quick to judge me."_

_Sliding the photos from the scene across the table Eric replied, "somehow I don't think being a parent is a requirement to find __these__ images reprehensible."_

_"You're an educated woman. You knew you had options," Tripp said to her. "If you didn't want her, you could have __easily__ given her to someone who did."_

_The woman replied with sarcastic laughter._

_"I'm 43-years-old, detective. I've never been married and it didn't seem to be in the cards in the close enough future. I spent $40,00 on IVF to get pregnant. How would people have looked at me if after all that I gave her up for adoption? How would they have treated me?"_

Eric kissed his son's head.

"Daddy and mommy love you and Chloe so much, Mijito. We see some horrible things every day, makes us want to keep you guys even closer, to keep you safe. And I want you to know that no matter what you do, we could _never_ hurt either of you. We could never, _ever_ raise a hand to you guys. I don't understand _why_ some people get to be mommies and daddies.."

Roberta turned off the monitor in the kitchen. She knew that both Calleigh and Eric saw terrible cases of child abuse on the job, some of these cases resulting in a child's death. She didn't know how they coped day in and day out. She could definitely understand why some days made them hold tighter to their babies. Roberta knew that neither of the couple used physical punishment on the children and _rarely_ ever raised their voices to their oldest unless they were totally out of patience. And even realizing that running out of patience was common as parents with two young children, they always felt guilty any time they yelled at Chloe.


	74. Happy SLIGHTLY EDITED

_**Happy **_

Roberta knew how bad her niece's childhood had been. Several times when Calleigh was little she had tried to gain custody of her. She couldn't convince her sister to willingly sign over custody to her and the court would never grant her numerous requests because she wasn't married. Although her life would been much better and filled with memories of abuse and neglect, Calleigh did have good memories of spending time with Roberta on the many occasions her parents wanted to "feel free."

Roberta was so happy that Calleigh had found someone who loved her so very much. Roberta had been hearing about Eric Delko for seven years before the couple _finally_ got together. She could hear the joy and pride in Calleigh's voice every time she talked about Eric's infant daughter who he was raising alone, after the child's mother had chosen not to be completely out the child's life. Roberta hoped that now the two _finally_ realized how they were meant for each other. When Calleigh told her that the two were together, Roberta was overjoyed. From the first mention of the man's baby girl Roberta could detect the deep maternal affection Calleigh had for the baby.

_"She's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen," Calleigh gushed to her aunt, just hours after she met the newborn at her place of work, before she had driven over to Eric's place and spent several hours. "Eric's so good with her. You can tell she's already so at ease with her daddy."_

_"What's her name?"_

_"Chloe. Chloe Gabriella. She looks __**just like **__Eric. She has this cute lil' tuft_ _of black hair that sticks up like a Mohawk. It's adorable."_

_"You sound like a proud mommy," Roberta said. "You feel that way, don't you?"_

_Calleigh couldn't lie to her aunt; she did feel that way. _

_"Maybe she's what you both needed to come out and say how you both feel about each other. I've never met the guy but I have such a feeling that he feels the same for you."_

When Calleigh's maternity leave expired Roberta was going to babysit for the couple. Ethan wasn't going to begin attending daycare till he was two, like his sister had. Chloe would be attending daycare for half the day five days a week when her mother went back to work. The rest of the time she would be with Roberta. Calleigh and Eric had chosen the option of not enrolling their oldest in kindergarten till she was six. They were still trying to decide whether they were going to enroll her in the Spanish Immersion program at Miami-Dade Elementary School. One of their neighbors was a teacher in the program where every subject was taught in Spanish. There was one hour class in English during the day. She told the Delkos, in her opinion, Chloe would be quickly accepted into the program because she were already bilingual. Some parents who enrolled their children in the program just wanted their English-speaking children to be fluent in the country's second language. Some children in the program spoke Spanish as their first language. For these groups, there was mandatory 4-week introductory Spanish and English programs for the children to learn the basics of the second language.

Some children were exempted from this if the selection committee were satisfied she or he was bilingual. Chloe fit that especially being she seemed to be able to switch languages at the drop of a hat.


	75. New Home, New Life

_**New Home, New Life**_

Roberta was loving life in Miami. The two weeks she had been back in Louisiana to tie up loose ends had dragged on. Her sister, Megan had called her once while she was there asking how Calleigh, "Calleigh's son, Calleigh's husband and his kid" were doing.

_"You know I __still__ haven't__ seen a photo of him. And what did she name him anyway? I forgot. I hope Eric's brat is treating my grandson all right," she had said._

_"Why should you have that privilege?" Roberta replied. "You were a selfish, horrible abusive mother to Calleigh. I'm not surprised she's cut all ties with you! And __for your information__, Calleigh has __two __beautiful children. She has been Chloe's mom since day one and she adopted her as soon as she could years ago! Just because __you__ don't accept her doesn't mean Chloe isn't Calleigh's child. God, I'm so glad that as soon as I'm out of here, I'll never see or hear from you again._"

_Roberta wasn't even going to dignify her sister's remark about Chloe being a brat with an answer._

In their parents' opinions as well as Roberta's, Chloe and Ethan were _her_ grandchildren, not her sister's, despite the fact they called her "auntie" not "nana."Calleigh had no intentions what-so-ever of introducing Ethan to her mother, period. She didn't deserve to see his picture, either. Megan was not going to have any part of Ethan Delko's life. When Calleigh and Eric married the first thing out of her mother's mouth was "it won't last." But she had the gall to assume that now that Calleigh and Eric were married and "able to start a real family" that Chloe, three-years-old at the time, was now going to be raised by Eric's parents, one of his sisters or her godfather. Eric, Calleigh and Ethan being a part of her life through visitation rights. _"You two should be able to have your own family if you want without the trouble of a stepkid," she said like she were ordering her lunch._

_Then she said what made Calleigh even more angry, if that were possible at this point. She said that Eric should give Chloe to Horatio 'as a gift' because he didn't have children of his own. "What's the problem? You said he already loves her like his own. I'm sure she'd be happy with him. It's not like you and Eric wouldn't be able to see her on a regular basis," she said._

Calleigh's response was to tell Megan to go to hell, lose her number and never try to contact her again.

Roberta was as close to a nanny as Eric and Calleigh were going to have for their children. The notion of live-in 24-hour care for the children, like some of the wealthy people had, had always irked Eric and in recent years Calleigh had come to see things the same way, after seeing children who were more attached to their hired caregivers and the hired caregivers knowing the children better than the parents she didn't see how she couldn't. They definitely wanted more children, they hoped to have four. If they were lucky enough to get four Calleigh hoped she would able to make it so she could work part-time at the lab so she could indulge in her passion for justice, not to forget her love of guns, but be able to spend more time at home. Contributing to the family financially by working part-time was an afterthought.

Roberta smiled at the sight in front of her. She couldn't help but find it heart-warming. A sick seven-month-old Ethan, partly wrapped in a blanket was in Eric's arms. Eric was talking to him in soft whispers in Spanish.

"Poor little guy," Eric said to the baby, kissing Ethan's forehead, taking a soft Kleenex and wiping the boy's nose. "You don't know why you feel so bad do you?"

_He's such a good father,_ she thought. _He's not well himself but he's up with the baby._

The whole family was sick with the flu, though Eric seemed to be almost over his being he were the first to get it. With Calleigh barely able to get out of bed to even to go to the bathroom and two very sick children Eric had called Roberta over to help.

_"I hate to ask you—" Eric said to Roberta on the phone._

_"Eric!" Roberta said. "You're only one person! You have two sick kids and a sick wife. You're not well yourself. I'll be over soon."_

Chloe had a chest cold with a hard cough that had kept her awake till an hour ago when she fell asleep from pure exhaustion. If the cough syrup the pharmacist had recommended had done anything for the 4-year-old her dad hadn't seen it.

"What can I do?" Roberta asked quietly.

"Could you check on the girls for me? And help Chloe wash up and change her pajamas?"

"Certainly."

Roberta found her niece sound asleep in the master bedroom. She didn't wake her. She broke the seal on a bottle of water and left it on the night table. In Chloe's room Roberta took a fresh pair of pajamas out of the dresser. She gently woke the little girl. Opening her eyes, Chloe appeared confused. Roberta wasn't alarmed; she knew it was a combination of exhaustion, medication and the flu.

"Que passa?" She said.

Although she didn't speak Spanish Roberta knew this phrase meant "what's happening?" or "what's going on?"

"It's all right, honey," she said, gently. "I'm going to give you a little wash and get you in a fresh pair of pajamas. You can go back to sleep."

Roberta offered to take Ethan afterwards, seeing Eric _really_ needed to go bed himself.

"He's almost out. If I give to you before he's asleep he'll start screaming again," Eric said. A few minutes later he handed the woman his sleeping boy, asking her to put him in the crib for him. He needed to lay down.

"Are you going to bed?"

Eric nodded.

"Good."

With Ethan almost one year old the couple was starting to talk about having another child. They weren't going to start trying to get pregnant again just yet but in the next few months, after Ethan turned one.


	76. Not Afraid

_**We're Not afraid of **__**Him**__**!**_

Only because they both knew Calleigh deserved a break from pregnancy, with Ethan now being 15-months-old the couple would be probably expecting another baby already. Furthermore because it would be a violation of basic rights, Rick couldn't have said or done anything to Calleigh or Eric if Calleigh was pregnant again just months after returning to the job. As a matter of fact, if being pregnant wasn't such a big deal or so physically taxing on Calleigh, the two would have possibly conceived that soon just to spite Rick Stetler.

_"We're not scared of him," Calleigh said, feeling and sounding like a child, talking to Natalia. "If I wanna get pregnant, I will!"_

Everyone else on the floor, right down to the cleaning staff loved to see the Delko children visit. Rick Stetler was in a class of his own.

"I saw your kids at the park with Calleigh's aunt," Natalia told Eric in the DNA lab. "Ethan certainly chases Chloe around."

Fifteen-month-old Ethan was pretty steady on his feet and already running. The couple couldn't complain; Chloe was usually good with her baby brother seemingly never leaving her alone. They made sure that even if _he_ didn't like it at times, Chloe could be by herself and could do what she wanted and Ethan was kept from intruding on her space.

Eric smiled.

"Did he manage to tackle her to the ground this time? He did the last time we were at the park."

Chloe hadn't been happy about mom going to back. She had gotten used to having her around and liked it. It had really been the first time that she and Calleigh had got the chance to spend that much time together. Part of Calleigh was excited to be getting back to the lab, but the mom part of wasn't. She wasn't looking forward to leaving her children but knew she and Chloe would get used to the separation quickly, especially with Roberta there.

"You'll see mommy every morning and I'll be home every evening," Calleigh told her daughter as she wiped away her tears and rubbing her hair when the girl cried that she didn't want mommy to leave in the morning. "Auntie will be here with you and you'll get to play with your friends in the afternoon. The day will go fast and before you know it, daddy and I will be home."

Calleigh felt trying to hold back her own tears. She didn't like seeing either of her children cry, whether because it was because teething hurt or because she didn't want mommy to leave her. Eric gave his wife a hug after she left Chloe's bedroom.

"Look at me, querida," he said softly.

Calleigh looked up at her husband.

"You know you're both going to make out fine, right?" He said. Eric was just as sympathetic to his child's tears. After all, she was only four-years-old. "After a week Chloe will feel like the day always went like this."

"I know. I just hate to see her cry like that."

Chloe started crying again the next morning when Calleigh was getting ready to leave. Fortunately Roberta was a great comfort; she told Calleigh even through Chloe was crying not drag things out, to give her a hug and kiss, telling her she would be back and to leave. She was not at all mean to the child but assured the mother she would be fine.

"I know you're sad," Roberta said to Chloe picking her up when Calleigh left, giving her a hug. "But she'll be back. And we'll have fun."

Chloe sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. She was all right a half hour after her mother was gone. Chloe didn't know but her mom called the daycare center when her daughter was there in the afternoon just make sure she was all right. The staff knew all about what it was like for moms during their first week back at work, especially the first day.

"She's fine," the woman told Calleigh. She said Chloe hadn't cried a tear since she arrived at the center. She was laughing, catching another child around with a puppet on her hand.

Calleigh smiled as she turned off her phone.

"Your baby girl is doing fine," Alexx said to her, smiling,

Calleigh nodded. "Yeah."

"I knew she would. Kids are like that. I know what you're going through, sugar," she said, giving Calleigh a hug. "But trust me, both of you will adjust in no time."

_**Translations**_

Querida - beloved


	77. Too Much Love?

_**Too Much Love? No Such Thing!**_

The couple sometimes wondered if it was 'normal' for parents to love their children so much; but if they weren't normal then so what? For both, having a close brush with death made them appreciate their children even more and not sweat the small stuff.

Calleigh didn't know but Eric had also called to check on Chloe. He had called _just_ after she did. He knew Chloe would be fine but wanted to be sure.

"I just hung up the phone with your wife," the same staffer said. "Chloe's just fine. Not a tear since she got here."

_I bet she's enjoying time away from Ethan, too, _Eric thought. He knew the baby boy could be smothering to his big sister.

Roberta picked up Chloe from daycare because it closed at five and her parents weren't getting off work till five-thirty.

"_Mommy!"_

As soon as she heard voices at the front door Chloe ran to the porch. Calleigh smiled and picked up her child.

"Hi ya, pumpkin," she said, kissing Chloe's cheek. "Mommy missed you. Did you have fun today?"

"Yeah!" Chloe said. She completely ignored her dad standing next to them in the porch. Eric just smiled. Chloe told Calleigh she drew her a picture and played with play-doh at the center.

Eric sniffed the air; he smelled food, someone was cooking spaghetti, with meatballs, his nose told him. They had told Roberta she did _not_ have to cook dinner but they had a feeling she wouldn't listen.

"I _told_ you that you didn't have to cook," Calleigh told her, entering the kitchen Chloe still on her hip.

"I know," Roberta replied. "But I wanted to. And I remembered the kids don't like onions or peppers so it's plain. I didn't know you guys were out of regular pasta till I started the sauce so I used the bowtie pasta you did have."

"Sounds fine to me," Calleigh said. "Why don't you stay? Since you cooked and all."

"Nah," her aunt said. "I'll leave you guys be. I'm sure you and the kids got some of catching up to do."

"I finally get my kiss, do I?" Eric said with a smile to Chloe when her mother put her down.

Chloe had wrapped herself his legs, looking up at him with a grin.

She nodded.

"I love you, papi," she said, giving Eric a kiss when he picked her up.

"Papi" was the word for"daddy" in Spanish, "papa" for the word for "father." Chloe either said "papi" or "daddy" not the more formal "papa." Ethan was babbling "mama" and "dada" and sometimes "papa." His vocabulary wasn't very big yet.

Calleigh had encountered an odd question from one of the lab techs that day after she had called to make sure her daughter was doing okay at daycare. She was asked innocently whether Caleigh thought they could love their children too much.

"Not possible," Eric said, as he and Calleigh cuddled in bed late that night.

"That's what I told her," she said, closing her eyes as she hugged into his chest.


	78. Pick the Winner

_I've updated my profile!_

_**Pick the Winner**_

Eric stifled a laugh, seeing his friend Tim try not to gag while interviewing a woman when he saw her two-year-old boy with his finger up his nose. At a local playground, a bloody butcher knife, minus any victim in sight, had been found by a group of moms out with their toddlers.

_"That's so gross," Speed said as the two examined the knife._

_Seeing a child "try to pick the winner" didn't phase Eric one bit. It certainly wasn't sanitary but it happened a thousand times a day with children that age. He was immune to it, although he made his kids did wash their hands often. But after close to five years of being a parent that was not nearly the grossest thing he had experienced. Eric shook his head and smiled._

_"You never see a kid try to pick the winner before?" He said. "Every kid does it. I bet even you did."_

_"'Pick the winner'? That's disgusting, And I did not."_

_"Little Timothy Speedle never picked his nose? I doubt if I were to call your mother in Queens she would tell me the same thing. And if you want 'disgusting'," Eric said, mocking Tim's tone. "Then I ought to make you change one of Ethan's diapers."_

No dirty diaper was a picnic but one from a 15-month-old was _nasty, _especially after mac and cheese and cookies for dessert.

Going through a complete "daddy's boy" phase right now, whenever daddy were home Ethan _insisted_ only daddy could change his diaper, which was just fine with mommy.

True to what they thought and were told after a week after being back at daycare for part of the day for a week and being with Roberta for the rest of the time Chloe was no longer experiencing separation anxiety in the mornings. She looked forward to seeing her friends at daycare and enjoyed being with her auntie.

It may not have been appropriate and they certainly _did_ need to talk to Chloe about the matter and tell her what she had done was wrong but they still couldn't help but smile when a teacher from daycare said that Chloe had pushed a little boy and knocked him off his chair. The carer who had seen it described how without provocation the boy had squished the play-doh animal Chloe was making with the side of his fist. The second after he had done so, Chloe had pushed him and the boy fell. Both kids had been put in time-out. Even Roberta had thought that since the boy had squished the play-doh Chloe was using he wasn't innocent, either.

Before she talked to her daughter, Calleigh had to get the thought out of her head that Chloe's behavior had been justified; a four-year-old Calleigh would have done the same; only four-year-old Calleigh would have tackled the boy after he were on the floor, Chloe hadn't. Both had to get the chuckles from their systems so Chloe would take them seriously.

"He's lucky Chloe wasn't you," Eric said with a laugh, shortly before they talked to Chloe. "You _really_ would have let him have it!"

"No one ever ruined my play-doh and gets away with it," Calleigh grinned.


	79. Wrapped Around FINAL CHAPTER

_**Wrapped Around Their Little Fingers**_

"So you and Eric want more children?" Maxine Valera asked Calleigh.

"Not right now but definitely," Calleigh replied.

For the couple, four was still the number of children they wanted. But they planned to wait a bit longer, till Ethan was two or so to start trying for another pregnancy. At the moment they were just enjoying Chloe and Ethan.

As much as the duo had their daddy wrapped around their little fingers Eric could be firm with the kids. When twenty-month-old Ethan Delko was caught trying to climb out from his crib by his dad when Eric happened to be walking past the half-open door he made sure even though the boy had the sweetest brown eyes that the child knew he couldn't be doing that.

"Ethan," Eric said sternly.

Those brown eyes looked at him.

"No. You know you can't do that. Lie down. Time for sleep," the father said from his spot at the door.

"Dormir?" The little boy said.

"Si Dornir," Eric replied.

He hadn't been worried about Ethan actually getting out of the crib, possibly falling on the floor and getting him hurt, yet. It wasn't the first time he or Calleigh had seen him try to do so in the past few days. But it was evident, as hard as Ethan tried and the effort could be seen on his face that his legs weren't long enough for him to climb over the railing just yet. Nevertheless there was a pillow on the floor every night just in case.

Ethan lay down. Wanting the toddler to put himself to sleep Eric walked away from the door. It was only 7:45pm Chloe was still up, she didn't have to go to bed till 8:30pm. The couple's daughter would be six in a few weeks and starting school the coming September. Her parents had decided not to enroll Chloe in Kindergarten till she turned six an option parents in the state had. Mother and daughter were on the sofa reading a story. Chloe liked longer kids' books now. Every night for the past week he or Calleigh had read her two chapters of _Stuart Little_. Eric smiled at her curious expression as Calleigh read to her. Sometimes Eric just liked to stand back and watch the precious family he had. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't realize how lucky he was to have them or how he was almost robbed of having them.

He looked forward to everyday. And yes, he and his wife hoped to have more children in the future. Eric smiled at the thought of more little Delkos.

"Come sit with us, daddy!" Chloe said when she saw her father.

"Sure," Eric said. He came over and sat down on the other side of his daughter, putting arm around her small shoulders.

Closing his eyes with the feeling of Calleigh's arms around him that night Eric couldn't help but be amazed about how an unexpected visit from a woman he never wanted to see again, who change his life so much for the better and have made it so utterly perfect.

–FIN--

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**Translations**

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Dormir - sleep

Please tell me if this is right! I'm not sure. I got it off Yahoo!

_Yes, my dear readers, it had to happen. This story has come to an end. I'm glad you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!:D For those of you who asked, yes, the moment Eric was referring to was when he was told by Melissa was pregnant, possibly by him. I edited the story to show that. I also noticed afterwards I goofed on how old Chloe was supposed to be. I fixed that. I don't know when the sequel will be up. Till then enjoy this and my other stories!_


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